h.:r? 


NOV   (^  1916 
/it  ^^ 


BR    125    .C3    1906  ^^^^ 

Case,    Carl   Delos,    1868-1931 
The  masculine   in   religion 


The  Masculine  in 
Religion 


'>  1916 


Byy 
Carl  Delos  Case,  Ph.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  Hanson  Place  Baptist  Church 
Brooklyn^  N.  Y. 


PHILADELPHIA 

Bmerican  :©apti0t  publication  Society 

1630  Chestnut  Street 


Copyright  1906  by  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society 


Published  June,  1906 


ffrom  tbc  Soctet>e's  own  pxcea 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

1.  THE  Problem  Stated     5 

II.  THE  Feminine  Note  in  Modern  society    .   12 

III.  EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY  .    .    22 

IV.  THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES 33 

V.  THE  MODERN  VERSUS  THE  BIBLICAL  RELIGIOUS 

TYPE 46 

VI.   SOME  PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION    61 

VII.  MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH 77 

VIII.  Men  AND  THE  LODGE 89 

IX.  MEN  AND  BUSINESS     lOO 

X.  THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST Iio 

ill 


THE 

Masculine  in  Religion 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  PROBLEM  STATED 

THE  subject  of  sex  in  education  and  religion 
must  assume  increasing  importance  as  the 
fundamental  differences  between  the  sexes  are 
more  clearly  recognized.  Sex  is  not  a  physiolog- 
ical condition  only  ;  but  as  the  brain  is  in  the  closest 
physiological  sympathy  with  all  the  organs  of  the 
body,  all  mental  activity  corresponds  to  bodily  func- 
tion. Spencer,  with  his  usual  evolutionary  phrase- 
ology, states  that "  just  as  certainly  as  they  (women) 
have  physical  differences  which  are  related  to  the 
respective  parts  they  play  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
race,  so  certainly  have  they  psychical  differences, 
similarly  related  to  their  respective  shares  in  the 
rearing  and  protection  of  offspring."  Sex  reaches 
up  through  physical  to  mental  and  spiritual  charac- 
teristics which  essentially  differentiate  the  mascu- 
line from  the  feminine. 

It   is   almost   an   impossible    task   to   name   the 

5 


6  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

eternally  masculine  and  feminine  elements  of  the 
psychical  life.  The  investigation  neither  of  the  past 
nor  the  present  of  woman's  status  will  enable  us 
to  determine  accurately  the  future  relative  position 
of  man  and  woman.  Perhaps  the  variation  between 
the  masculine  and  the  feminine  has  been  far  more 
pronounced  under  the  past  conditions  of  civilization 
than  it  will  be  under  the  future.  The  best  that  can 
be  done  is  to  note  the  trend  of  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life,  and  foresee,  though  but  dimly,  the 
goal  by  means  of  what  has  already  passed  into  his- 
tory. It  is  not  a  mere  poetic  fancy  that  made 
Tennyson  say  : 

For  woman  is  not  undevelopt  man, 

But  diverse.  .  . 

Yet  in  the  long  years  liker  must  they  grow  ; 

The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man  ; 

He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 

Nor  lose  the  wrestling  thews  that  throw  the  world  ; 

She  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care, 

Nor  lose  the  childlike  in  the  larger  mind  ; 

Till  at  the  last  she  set  herself  to  man, 

Like  perfect  music  unto  noble  words. 

Many  modern  writers  would  scarcely  accept  the 
first  line  of  this  quotation,  for  to  them  woman  is 
the  past  and  the  future  of  the  race  :  the  past,  be- 
cause she  is  near  to  the  child  who  itself  repeats  the 
childhood  of  the  race  ;  the  future,  because  we  are 
to  attain  again  to  the  childlike  simplicity  and  equi- 
librium of  life.     That  there  is  danger  of  obliterating 


THE  PROBLEM  STATED  7 

many  of  the  mental  sexual  differences  is  also  appar- 
ent. Culture  may  repudiate  nature,  against  which 
nature  herself  may  eventually  rebel. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  race,  the  man  and  the 
woman  were  more  alike  :  physically,  since  she  per- 
formed many  of  what  to-day  would  be  called  the 
man's  duties  ;  mentally,  since  whatever  education 
might  be  given  arose  from  the  home  or  village  or 
tribal  association,  and  the  thinking  of  the  man  was 
the  thinking  of  the  woman.  But  as  civilization 
progressed,  there  came  a  marked  divergence  be- 
tween the  sexes.  Woman  became  more  and  more 
the  laborer  of  the  kitchen  or  the  entertainer  of  the 
parlor,  and  farther  and  farther  withdrawn  from  the 
hardening  contact  with  the  world.  At  the  present 
there  is  a  partial  return  to  primitive  conditions.  The 
calisthenic  exercises  of  the  schools,  the  athletic 
pursuits  of  the  more  leisurely  classes,  the  better 
knowledge  of  hygiene,  have  produced  a  more  hardy 
physique  ;  while  the  entrance  of  women  into  many 
trades  and  professions,  and  the  coeducation  of  most 
schools  and  colleges  have  produced  more  of  mental 
equality.  In  this  new  phase  upon  which  we  are 
entering,  the  present  aim  of  educators  is  to  obvi- 
ate any  possible  minimizing  of  real  mental  sexual 
differences. 

Any  student  who  grants  the  existence  of  es- 
sential mental  differences  between  the  man  and 
woman,  although  he  may  not  be  able  accurately 
to  define  them,   will  acknowledge   that  education 


8  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

should  closely  correspond  to  these  native  distinc- 
tions. It  is  perhaps  an  open  question  whether 
women  should  receive  the  same  collegiate  train- 
ing as  men,  although  this  is  practically  given  now 
except  so  far  as  vocation  may  determine  special 
courses.  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  however,  has 
declared  that  there  must  be  a  real,  essential,  wise 
difference  in  the  education  of  the  two  sexes,  al- 
though no  one  has  exactly  discovered  what  that 
difference  should  be  ;  and  with  him  others  agree. 
In  England,  either  because  educational  theory  is  in 
advance  of  America,  or  behind  her,  the  idea  is 
more  prevailing  that  the  woman's  education  should 
be  different,  and  that  too,  on  the  ground  that 
she  is  mentally  inferior  to  man.  Prof.  Thomas 
Case,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  and  metaphys- 
ics at  Oxford,  believes  that  there  are  intellectual 
differences  between  the  sexes  that  make  it  difficult 
for  a  woman  to  find  a  place  in  a  virile  university. 
The  sytem  of  education,  he  maintains,  should  not 
be  the  same  both  in  a  woman's  and  in  a  man's 
university. 

Turning  to  religion,  it  is  manifest  that  if  the  ex- 
pression and  training  of  the  mental  life  of  the  woman 
should  be  different  from  that  of  a  man,  then  the 
expression  and  training  of  her  spiritual  life  should 
also  be  different.  In  Genesis  i  :  27,  which  reads : 
'*And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the 
image  of  God  created  he  him,  male  and  female 
created  he  them,"  there  is  at  least  an  intimation 


THE  PROBLEM   STATED  9 

that  for  an  adequate  manifestation  of  God  among 
finite  human  beings,  there  must  be  both  male  and 
female. 

"  Religion,"  Menzies  says  in  his  *'  History  of  Re- 
ligion," "is  the  worship  of  unseen  powers  from  a 
sense  of  need."  Two  elements  of  a  religious  life 
are  here  included,  belief  and  worship.  To  these 
must  be  added  that  conduct  which  corresponds  to 
the  idea  of  God  contained  in  belief,  and  that  atti- 
tude toward  God  assumed  in  worship.  There  are 
thus  three  phases  in  which  the  religious  life  dis- 
plays itself :  belief,  worship,  conduct.  Theoretic- 
ally, the  beliefs  of  all  individuals  should  be  iden- 
tical, as  there  is  only  one  truth  of  which  belief  is 
the  statement.  Practically,  belief  is  modified  by 
one's  angle  of  vision,  and  one's  angle  of  vision  de- 
pends upon  the  two  factors  of  environment — the 
truth  presented  and  the  medium  of  communication 
and  of  nature — one's  heredity  and  acquired  mental 
equipment.  Beliefs,  even  though  seemingly  con- 
tradictory, are  not  always  absolutely  mutually  ex- 
clusive. Worship  also  varies  with  belief,  tempera- 
ment, custom.  Worship  now  seeks  an  elaborate 
ritual,  now  a  puritanical  plainness  in  an  unesthetic 
building;  now  bowings  of  head  and  knees,  now 
altars  and  gowns  and  tapers  ;  but  it  is  all  worship. 

Conduct  does  not  seem  so  variable  as  belief. 
Yet  even  here  Paul  declares  that  one  man  can  eat 
meat  but  another  must  refrain,  and  yet  both  act  on 
religious  principle.     Conscience  as  a  judge  is  not 


10  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

infallible.  It  can  only  judge  by  the  light  of  the 
facts  and  of  the  law  presented  to  it.  Of  right 
actions  also,  there  is  a  choice  of  that  which  shall 
best  satisfy  the  individual  conscience,  whether  at 
any  moment  to  give  service  to  others,  and  what 
particular  service,  or  to  attend  to  the  true  interests 
of  self. 

It  is  evident  that  no  standard  of  authority  can  be 
presented  to  an  individual  which  must  inevitably 
be  followed  in  the  expression  of  his  religious  spirit. 
Two  most  interesting  recognitions  of  this  fact 
can  be  cited.  First,  is  the  statement  of  Pres. 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  whose  lectures  in  India 
and  special  studies  in  the  East  fit  him  to  speak 
authoritatively  : 

"  We  must  realize  that  an  indigenous  Christian- 
ity has  appeared  in  the  East.  These  nations  have 
advanced  to  the  plane  of  independent  religious  de- 
velopment and  claim  freedom  of  action  for  them- 
selves. The  East  is  on  the  point  of  working  out 
its  own  Christian  character.  .  .  We  must  be  con- 
tent with  an  Oriental  type  of  Christianity  which 
should  be  allowed  its  free  development  in  the  liberty 
that  we  have  claimed  for  ourselves." 

Second,  is  the  theory  accepted  by  all  modern 
Bible  teachers,  that  the  juvenile  type  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  must  differ  from  the  adult  type,  not  in 
being  an  incomplete  and  imperfect  phase  of  what 
it  is  later  to  be,  but  in  being  the  natural  expression 
of  a  child's  mind  toward  God  and  man.     In  the 


THE  PROBLEM  STATED  II 

child  of  from  eight  to  twelve  and  thirteen,  the  ac- 
quisitive feeling,  the  clannish  spirit  especially  mani- 
fest among  boys,  the  feeling  of  justice  on  the  egois- 
tic side,  and  other  characteristics,  determine  the 
religious  life  of  the  boy  and  girl.  Equally  is  the 
adolescent  age  a  period  of  specific  investigation. 

Now,  if  it  is  clearly  understood  that  there  is  an 
Oriental  and  an  Occidental  type  of  religious  life, 
and  as  clearly  understood  that  there  is  a  juvenile 
type  and  an  adolescent  type  differing  from  the  adult, 
why  should  it  not  be  equally  granted  that  there  is 
a  distinctive  masculine  and  a  distinctive  feminine 
type  of  religious  life  ?  Is  there  not  far  more  differ- 
ence between  the  man's  and  the  woman's  religion 
than  between  the  man's  and  the  boy's  ?  Is  it  not 
time  to  study  the  comparative  psychology  of  relig- 
ion, comparing  not  simply  the  child  with  the  adult 
and  the  Japanese  with  the  American,  but  the  man 
with  the  woman  ? 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FEMININE   NOTE   IN  MODERN  SOCIETY 

THAT  woman  has  a  new  place  in  modern  civil- 
ization no  one  will  deny.     As  to  whether  she 

has  changed  the  complexion  of  modern  life, 
and  if  so  in  what  respects  and  how  much,  is  en- 
tirely a  different  matter.  The  coming  of  a  new 
partner  into  an  established  business  may  or  may 
not  change  the  character  of  the  business.  Never- 
theless, the  former  is  an  indication  of  the  latter. 
Unless  the  woman  has  had  a  larger  opportunity  to 
affect  modern  life,  she  cannot  in  fact  have  accom- 
plished it.  It  needs  but  a  casual  observer  of  modern 
conditions  to  notice  that  the  woman  has  taken  her 
place  beside  man  in  almost  all  of  his  vocations. 
Some  one,  in  giving  a  description  of  woman,  has 
said  that  she  is  man's  inferior  physically,  his  equal 
intellectually,  and  his  superior  spiritually.  As  in- 
tellectually equal,  even  though  not  of  the  same 
quality  in  intellect,  she  has  taken  and  filled  many 
of  the  so-called  masculine  occupations. 

From  1870  to  1900  there  was  this  increase  in  the 
number  of  women  employed  in  the  United  States 
in  the  various  professions  and  trades :  Artists,  from 
412  to  11,021;  authors,  159  to  5,940;  clergymen, 

12 


THE   FEMININE  NOTE  IN  MODERN  SOCIETY     1 3 

67  to  3,373;  journalists,  35  to  2,193;  musicians, 
5,753  to  52,359;  physicians,  527  to  7,387  ;  teach- 
ers, 84,047  to  327,614;  bookkeepers,  stenographers, 
etc.,  8,028  to  245,517.  Other  figures  are  in  pro- 
portion. The  most  apparent  increase  is  to  be  found 
among  the  wage-earners,  where  no  special  course 
of  training  is  demanded.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  there  is  a  total  population  of  women  over  ten 
years  of  age  in  the  United  States  of  over  28,000,000, 
and  that  of  these  more  than  5,000,000,  or  one-fifth, 
are  working  for  a  living  ;  also,  that  there  are  about 
14,000,000  women  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  thirty-five,  and  that  of  these  over  thirty  per 
cent,  are  wage-earners.  The  cause  need  not  now 
be  discussed.  The  facts  and  their  influences  are 
the  only  subjects  of  consideration. 

hi  educational  fields  of  activity  the  question 
which  might  be  propounded  is,  not  whether  the 
women's  college  shall  exist,  but  whether  eventu- 
ally some  of  the  men's  colleges  shall  not  become 
women's  colleges  in  order  to  keep  up  their  requisite 
number  of  students.  In  general  education,  in  the 
culture-training,  women  already  seem  to  have  a 
fair  start  of  men.  With  the  club  life  among  women, 
and  the  general  discussion  of  topics  of  art,  literature, 
and  science,  it  does  seem  a  natural  conclusion  that 
the  time  has  come,  or  will  come,  when  many  men 
will  cease  being  intelligent  companions  for  women. 

Women's  education  is  comparatively  new,  new 
at  least  in  the  higher  grades  of  learning.     In  1820 


14  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

Gov.  De  Witt  Clinton  said  at  the  opening  of  Miss 
Emma  Willard's  Seminary  for  Ladies  at  Water- 
ford,  New  York  :  "As  this  is  the  only  attempt  ever 
made  in  the  country  to  promote  the  education  of 
the  female  sex  by  the  patronage  of  the  government, 
as  our  first  and  best  affections  are  derived  from 
maternal  affections,  and  as  the  education  of  the 
female  character  is  inseparably  connected  with  hap- 
piness and  respectability  abroad,  I  trust  that  you 
will  not  be  deterred  by  commonplace  ridicule  from 
extending  your  munificence  to  this  meritorous  insti- 
tution." How  would  a  similar  statement  sound  to- 
day, with  the  women's  colleges  (not  "  female  "  as 
Governor  Clinton  said)  East  and  West,  with  almost 
all  of  our  colleges  open  to  women,  with  many  of 
the  coeducational  institutions  attended  by  more 
women  than  men,  with  England  and  Germany 
coming  into  line  with  modern  demand.? 

In  the  professions  the  presence  of  women  is  not 
so  apparent,  but  nevertheless  manifest.  There  are 
now  many  women  doctors.  Even  in  London  there 
is  a  school  of  medicine  for  women  which  enjoys  the 
unique  privilege  of  having  been  opened  by  the 
present  queen  of  England,  on  which  occasion  she 
was  made  to  say  by  her  spokesman,  her  husband, 
that  she  thought  that  no  one  could  be  so  illiberal  as 
not  to  wish  to  give  women  medical  education. 
Hospitals  have  been  founded  by  women  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Chicago,  San  Francisco, 
Minneapolis,  and  elsewhere. 


THE  FEMININE  NOTE  IN  MODERN  SOCIETY     15 

In  law  there  is  a  constant  increase  of  women 
practitioners.  They  go  little  into  the  court-rooms, 
but  engage  in  office  practice.  Sometimes  the  way 
has  been  opened  for  a  woman,  the  wife  of  some 
lawyer,  who  on  account  of  the  ill-health  of  her 
husband  has  been  compelled  to  assume  many  of 
the  duties  of  her  husband's  practice.  But  to-day 
young  ladies  look  toward  the  law  as  an  inviting  field 
of  activity.  The  first  woman  of  modern  times  that 
asked  for  and  obtained  admission  to  the  bar  was 
Arabella  A.  Mansfield,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa, 
who  was  admitted  in  1869  under  a  statute  provid- 
ing for  the  admission  of  "male  white  citizens." 
The  committee  recommending  her  said  that  they 
felt  justified  in  recommending  to  the  court  that  con- 
struction of  the  law  which  they  deemed  authorized 
not  only  by  the  language  of  the  law  but  by  the 
demands  and  necessities  of  the  present  time  and 
occasion,  thus  recognizing  that  new  times  demand 
new  interpretations  of  the  ancient  laws.  Emma 
Barkaloo,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  the  second 
woman  to  be  enrolled  as  an  attorney.  Since  then 
the  number  has  constantly  increased.  It  is  true  that 
not  all  who  study  law  intend  to  become  lawyers. 
Some  study  for  the  general  knowledge  of  business 
and  professional  life  that  it  gives  them  ;  some,  to 
keep  in  touch  with  that  which  interests  their  men 
companions ;  some,  that  they  may  know  more 
about  the  laws  which  they  are  compelled  to  obey, 
even  though  they  do  not  make  them,  thus  render- 


l6  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

ing  them  the  equal  of  the  legislators  and  lawyers 
with  whom,  as  property  owners,  they  have  to  do. 

In  journalism  women  have  taken  many  important 
positions,  even  showing  their  capacity  to  edit  large 
daily  papers.  As  leaders  in  great  public  movements 
many  familiar  names  might  be  given.  Even  in 
Germany  Miss  Frances  Willard  said  that  she  saw 
a  woman  preside  over  a  meeting  of  three  thousand 
men,  and  that  she  evidently  perfectly  understood 
her  duties  as  chairman,  and  handled  the  somewhat 
turbulent  audience  with  rare  tact  and  generalship, 
hi  the  ministry  the  statistics  show  that  an  increas- 
ing number  of  women  take  up  the  duties  of  pastor 
and  preacher.  Here  the  prejudice  against  her  seems 
to  remain  more  definitely  fixed,  perhaps  because 
the  church  is  generally  more  conservative  than 
other  social  organizations,  but  even  here  the  pros- 
pects point  to  a  larger  field  for  the  ambitious  woman. 

This  increasing  importance  of  the  position  of 
woman  in  industrial  and  professional  fields  has 
without  doubt  created  many  new  conditions  in 
civilization  and  wrought  for  her  a  changed  rela- 
tionship in  the  social  complexity.  First,  then,  can 
be  seen  her  industrial  and  financial  freedom,  which 
is  the  emancipation  of  what  has  often  been  the 
white  slave.  The  Indians  of  America,  before  Chris- 
tianization,  made  their  wives  do  the  work.  The 
Fiji  Island  princes  were  accustomed  to  lay  the  four 
corners  of  their  residences  upon  four  women  buried 
alive.     In  the  East  Indies  there  was  a  custom  of 


THE  FEMININE  NOTE   IN  MODERN  SOCIETY     \^ 

burning  wives  on  funeral  pyres  with  their  husbands 
until  the  English  law  forbade  it.  To  be  sure,  we 
must  look  deeper  for  the  cause  of  the  emancipation 
of  woman,  and  this  cause  is  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 
It  needs  only  to  be  noted  now  that  the  woman  who 
can  both  earn  and  spend  her  money  can  look  her 
would-be  provider  independently  in  the  face,  and 
this  gives  her  freedom  in  financial  as  well  as  in 
other  ways. 

But  a  more  serious  change  effected  by  the  eleva- 
tion of  women  has  been  the  increased  independence 
of  women  from  the  demands  of  home  life.  It  needs 
the  best-developed  and  best-educated  women  to  be 
wives  and  mothers,  but  education  seems  to  debar 
many  from  assuming  these  responsibilities.  Edu- 
cation does  not  unfit  a  woman  for  matrimony.  It 
does  not  necessarily,  seldom  does  in  point  of  fact, 
make  her  desire  to  carry  around  her  degrees  as  a 
satisfaction  to  pride  ;  but  it  does  keep  many  from 
marriage  because  with  their  education  they  find 
fields  of  activity  open  to  them  and,  perhaps,  also 
have  their  ideal  of  a  companion  so  high  that  they  are 
with  difficulty  satisfied.  After  all,  let  us  be  per- 
suaded that  the  increased  education  of  women,  while 
it  may  have  prevented  some  marriages  of  sentiment, 
has  raised  the  standard  of  home  life,  made  a  better- 
trained  rising  generation,  made  more  mother  and 
wife  out  of  the  woman  and  less  of  a  machine. 
There  is  less  dependence  but  more  companionship, 
less  of  slavery  but  more  of  equality  ;  not  less  of  the 
B 


l8  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

housewife  who  believes  that  it  is  well  worth  while 
to  know  how  to  cook  and  take  care  of  children,  but 
more  of  the  leader  in  all  that  makes  home  life 
beautiful. 

As  for  the  legal  position  of  women,  great  changes 
have  occurred,  and  these  changes  have  also  reacted 
upon  other  helpless  classes  of  society.  Susan  B. 
Anthony  says  that  fifty  years  ago  it  was  not  the 
fashion  to  give  the  girls  any  particular  education, 
and  as  for  her  working,  it  was  unheard  of.  She 
must  stay  at  home  and  attend  strictly  to  her  house- 
work and  knitting.  So,  as  she  had  neither  money 
nor  education,  there  was  no  reason  why  she  should 
have  a  chance  to  vote.  At  that  time,  says  Miss 
Anthony,  married  women  had  not  the  slightest 
legal  status  so  far  as  property  was  concerned.  To- 
day in  most,  if  not  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  mar- 
ried women  hold  their  own  property,  make  con- 
tracts, draw  up  wills,  and  have  most  of  the  property 
rights  their  husbands  possess. 

Still  other  phases  of  the  new  woman's  position 
can  be  mentioned,  but  those  already  named  are 
sufficient  to  show  that  woman  has  taken  a  new 
position  in  the  social  status.  She  has  accomplished 
more  and  been  granted  more  than  ever  before  in  the 
history  of  the  race.  Does  it  follow  that  the  social 
atmosphere  has  also  changed?  The  emancipation 
of  the  Negro  of  the  South  primarily  affected  the 
Negro  himself,  giving  him  political  and  industrial 
freedom  and,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  opening 


THE  FEMININE   NOTE    IN  MODERN  SOCIETY     I9 

up  the  trades  and  professions  to  him.  Can  any 
one  say  that,  as  a  result  of  this  emancipation,  the 
white  South  has  not  also  changed  ?  in  fact,  the 
entire  nation?  The  social  gap  may  be  to-day  as 
deep  as  ever  or  deeper,  but  there  is  a  new  Southern 
note  which  differs  from  the  ante-bellum  voice  and 
differs  to  a  great  extent  because  there  is  a  free 
black  South.  Is  it  not  to  be  expected  that  when 
one-half  of  the  human  race  in  civilized  lands  have 
reached  a  new  status,  that  this  half,  the  feminine, 
shall  have  given  a  feminine  touch  to  all  subjects,  a 
feminine  hue  to  all  fields  of  endeavor,  and  have 
given  us,  even  though  we  are  more  or  less  unaware 
of  it,  a  feminine  art,  literature,  education,  and 
religion? 

Can  we  detect  this  note  in  education,  for  exam- 
ple? The  feminine  influence  may  be  subtle  and 
still  be  apparent.  A  single  quotation  will  suffice, 
and  especially  that  it  is  particularly  luminous.  It 
is  from  Susan  E.  Blow  as  she  writes  on  "  The  Sur- 
prises of  Experience"  in  the  *' Kindergarten  Re- 
view" of  March,  1902.  After  noting  the  changes 
in  the  tone  of  literature  since  many  women  have 
become  writers  and  a  majority  of  women  readers, 
changes  in  which  obscenity  has  been  eliminated 
and  harshness  diminished,  and  in  which,  however, 
literature  is  being  deprived  of  its  virility  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  of  its  integrity,  and  is  prone  to  sub- 
stitute a  sentimental  idea  of  what  ought  to  be  for  a 
candid  recognition  of  what  is,  she  says : 


20  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

A  similar  influence  is  traceable  in  education  and  particularly 
in  the  kindergarten,  it  has  produced  the  perennial  smiler, 
from  whose  smile,  critics  aver,  the  child  flees  in  terror.  It  has 
produced  indirect  and  sentimental  forms  of  address  and  appeal. 
It  condemns  all  stories  which  recognize  in  little  children  the 
possibility  of  wrong-doing.  It  has  an  inordinate  desire  to  call 
everything  by  a  fictitious  name.  It  does  not  want  children  to 
look  at  Froebel's  shadow-pictures.  It  is  afraid  of  soldier 
games.  It  dreams  that  life  is  beauty  and  does  not  know  that 
life  is  war.  It  claims  that  the  blind  preferences  of  the  un- 
formed child  shall  determine  his  education,  and  caricatures 
Froebel's  most  important  dictum  by  following  with  unintel- 
ligent passivity  wherever  he  may  lead  Hence  it  delivers  its 
victims  to  the  school  with  enfeebled  will,  arrested  intellect, 
and  greatly  increased  caprice  and  waywardness. 

But  what  can  we  say  of  religion?  Is  the  femi- 
nine note  to  be  discovered  here.?  Woman  has 
gained,  without  doubt,  a  new  importance  in  this 
phase  of  life.  Certain  offices  in  the  church  are  still 
held  by  the  male  sex,  but  the  churches  of  to-day 
would  be  shorn  of  their  power  should  the  women 
fail  in  their  devotion.  Higher  education  is  not  even 
yet  widespread  among  women,  and  in  fact  there 
are  no  statistics  to  show  what  has  been  the  result 
of  education  upon  woman's  faith.  Yet  it  appears 
to  be  true  that  a  growing  knowledge  of  scientific 
conclusions  produces  the  same  results  upon  a  wom- 
an's faith  as  upon  a  man's.  To  the  mind  of  that 
man  who  has  changed  opinion  to  assured  belief, 
who  has  thought  his  way  out  through  his  problems 
to  sanity  of  faith,  there  will  be  no  regret  for  the 
stronger  faith  which  results  to  the  woman  through 


THE  FEMININE   NOTE   IN  MODERN  SOCIETY     21 

study.  Woman  responds  as  does  man  to  the 
changed  tendencies  in  scientific  and  critical  studies 
and  to  the  new  movement  of  social  and  intellectual 
emancipation. 

Nevertheless,  woman  is  still  feminine,  and  the 
grave  question  must  be  asked.  Has  she  made  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Christian  life  distinctively  feminine? 
Is  there  a  feminine  note  in  religion  as  in  education, 
depriving  it  of  virility,  prone  to  substitute  a  senti- 
mental idea  of  what  ought  to  be  for  a  candid  recog- 
nition of  what  is?  with  an  inordinate  desire  to  call 
everything  by  a  fictitious  name,  dreaming  that  life  is 
beauty,  not  knowing  that  life  is  war,  enfeebling  the 
will,  arresting  the  intellect,  and  greatly  increasing 
caprice  and  waywardness? 


CHAPTER   III 
EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY 

ON  the  first  inquiry,  the  most  clear  recognition 
of  the  changed  condition  of  the  Christian 
ideal  is  seen  in  the  absence  of  men  from 
the  churches.  The  question  has  been  fully  dis- 
cussed in  newspapers  and  brochures  and  it  is  not 
necessary  to  repeat  the  various  arguments  here. 
The  absence,  however,  should  be  noted  to  show 
that  a  man  has  either  an  environment  which  makes 
it  more  difficult  for  him  to  come  to  church,  or  a 
nature  which  cannot  find  complete  satisfaction  in 
the  modern  presentation  of  Christianity,  presum- 
ably both.  This  fact  of  male  absence  from  the 
church  has  been  recently  denied,  but  the  state- 
ments are  misleading.  It  is  true  that  in  certain 
churches  there  are  as  many  men  as  women  and 
often  more,  but  that  is  not  true  of  all  churches. 
The  statement  is  only  another  proof  of  the  lack  of 
a  virile  ministry  in  most  pulpits  with  its  prominence 
in  a  few.  It  is  also  true  that  there  is  an  increasing 
number  of  male  students  in  the  colleges  who  are 
Christians,  an  enlistment  of  30,000  students  in 
Bible  study,  and  a  stronger  Christian  tone  in  ath- 
letics. This  again  is  due  to  the  initiative  of  the 
22 


EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY      23 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  movement,  which  is  a  plea  for  a 
muscular  and  a  masculine  Christian  life. 

There  are  about  20,000,000  Protestant  church- 
members  to-day  in  the  United  States.  About  13,- 
000,000  of  these  are  women.  Seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  leave  Sunday-school  during  the 
adolescent  age.  Mr.  C.  C.  Michener,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Association,  reports  that,  in  the  coun- 
try, one  in  two  young  men  go  to  church  regularly, 
one  in  three  occasionally,  and  one  in  fourteen  not 
at  all;  in  the  city,  one  in  four  regularly,  one  in  two 
occasionally,  and  one  in  seven  not  at  all.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  encouraging  reports  given  to  the 
public.  In  a  recent  year,  the  minutes  of  a  prominent 
denomination  in  Massachusetts  gave  the  totals  of 
male  membership  in  198  churches.  These  churches 
had  33,885  members,  or  an  average  of  170  to  each 
church.  The  total  male  membership  was  10,543, 
or  an  average  of  a  little  over  fifty-three  to  each 
church.  This  makes  it  plain  that  of  these  churches 
only  about  one-third  were  men.  These  figures 
were  gathered  largely  from  the  rural  districts  where 
there  are  generally  more  male  members  in  propor- 
tion to  the  entire  membership.  In  regard  to  the 
Catholics,  the  reports  are  much  the  same.  The 
'*  Catholic  Telegraph  "  once  said  that  at  the  same 
communion  rail  there  are  everywhere  ten  young 
women  for  one  young  man. 

The  cause  of  this  condition  should  be  discovered 
and,  if  possible,  remedied.     There  is  one  place  to 


24  THE   MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

study  the  subject  at  first-hand,  and  that  is  in  the 
Sunday-school.  Here  the  transition  from  devotion 
to  disaffection  can  be  noted.  The  boys  of  the 
kindergarten,  primary,  and  junior  departments,  are 
present.  During  the  intermediate  period  the  process 
of  disaffection  occurs.  Can  it  be  suggested  that  a 
main  cause  is  the  failure  to  substitute  the  masculine 
for  the  juvenile  type  of  instruction  and  discipline.? 
The  juvenile  type  has  many  points  of  similarity  to 
the  feminine  and  the  transition  is  easy  from  one  to 
the  other,  but  the  growing  boy  finds  his  needs 
unsatisfied  and  his  new  life  only  hampered  by  a 
wrong  mold. 

But  leaving  statistics  and  descriptions,  there  are 
other  more  manifest  testimonies  to  the  presence  of 
the  feminine  ideal.  First,  there  is  the  plea  heard 
here  and  there,  sometimes  indefinitely  and  with 
wavering  terminology,  and  sometimes  with  clear 
understanding  of  the  need,  for  a  masculine  type 
of  religious  life.  As  a  specimen  of  a  clear  appeal 
can  be  quoted  these  words  from  Pres.  Benjamin  Ide 
Wheeler:  "  The  real  cause  of  manless  churches  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  church  has  been  for  ages  culti- 
vating the  female  side  of  religion.  As  the  form  of 
woman  is  marked  by  grace  and  beauty  and  flowing 
outlines,  and  the  form  of  man  by  ruggedness  and 
strength,  so  all  those  thoughts  or  conceptions  or  at- 
tributes of  the  spirit  which  conform  to  beauty  may 
be  called  female,  and  those  which  are  akin  to 
strength  male." 


EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY      25 

A  still  more  striking  appeal  was  made  by  Captain 
Mahan  in  a  recent  address  to  the  cadets  at  West 
Point  on  the  presentation  by  the  American  Tract 
Society  of  Teachers'  Bibles  to  the  members  of  the 
graduating  class.     He  was  quoted  as  saying  : 

"  The  masculine,  military  side  of  religion  as  por- 
trayed in  the  Bible  is  too  often  overlooked,  because 
women  are  more  religious  than  men.  In  its  pre- 
cepts and  typical  men  Christianity  finds  in  the 
military  calling  its  most  vivid  illustration  and  fer- 
vent appeals.  Christ  came  not  to  send  peace,  but 
a  sword.  The  good  men  of  the  Bible  are  a  line  of 
heroes,  courageous  in  action,  patient  in  endurance, 
obedient,  subordinate,  counting  gain  but  loss  so 
that  the  ends  of  God  their  general,  of  Christ  their 
captain,  be  achieved.  They  loved  not  their  lives 
unto  death.  .  .  The  essential  character  of  the  good 
Christian  and  the  good  soldier  have  much  in  com- 
mon. They  are  more  closely  allied  than  those  of 
any  other  calling.  War  realizes  in  an  extreme  form 
the  conflict  of  all  life,  and  even  in  peace  the  de- 
cisive military  virtues  are  essentially  Christian  vir- 
tues. Suffer,  then,  no  man  to  despise  in  your  per- 
son the  one  profession  or  the  other." 

Another  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  feminine 
note  in  religion  is  seen  in  the  regret  on  the  part  of 
many  writers  of  the  domination  of  the  religious  life 
in  the  Middle  Ages  by  men.  It  is  true  that  man 
has  been  the  prophet,  priest,  and  king,  the  preacher 
and  deacon,  the  theologian  and  ecclesiastic.     In  the 


26  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

ancient  temple,  the  court  of  women  occupied  the 
eastern  part  of  the  temple  enclosure,  but  was  not, 
as  might  be  supposed  to-day,  for  the  exclusive  use 
of  women.  Women  had  not  an  exclusive  use  of 
any  part  of  the  sacred  enclosure.  But  nearer  to 
the  sacred  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  temple,  en- 
closing the  holy  place  was  the  court  of  Israel,  into 
which  the  women  could  not  go.  From  their  en- 
closure they  could  view  from  a  greater  distance  the 
fire  of  sacrifice  and  the  smoke  of  incense.  At 
Macon,  France,  where  to-day  is  a  school  for  the 
higher  education  of  girls  opened  some  fifteen  years 
ago,  a  council  once  met  to  decide  whether  women 
had  souls. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  Bishop  Lawrence,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, recently  averred  that  the  whole  realm 
of  theology  has,  until  the  present  generation,  been 
interpreted  to  us  by  men.  Who  knows  what  a  dif- 
ferent theology  we  might  have  had  in  the  past  if 
women's  minds  had  been  at  work  on  the  problem  } 
Would  Mariolatry  have  taken  the  form  it  did  ? 
Would  Calvinism  have  captured  the  intellect  of 
Protestantism  .?  Would  any  man  have  dared  to 
say  that  hell  was  paved  with  souls  of  infants  ? 

A  more  extended  discussion  of  this  subject  occurs 
in  a  book  of  J.  Brierly,  B.  A.,  on  ''Ourselves  and 
the  Universe,"  in  which  occurs  a  short  chapter  on 
"  Sex  in  Religion."  While  he  emphasizes  the  need 
of  an  inquiry  into  the  difference  between  the  sexes 
as  a  cause  of  variation  in  institutions,  theologies, 


EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY      2^ 

and  varied  activities,  yet  he  feels  that  the  history 
of  Christianity  has  lacked  the  touch  of  a  woman's 
nature. 

The  male  ecclesiastic,  imagining  religion  to  be  an  affair 
of  dry  intellect,  a  formula  to  be  ground  out  of  his  logic- 
mill,  succeeded  in  making  it  anti-human.  .  .  The  mother 
side  of  humanity  would  never  have  constructed  the  fire  of 
medievalism.  .  .  Nothing  has  been  made  clearer  than  that 
the  attempt  to  build  religion  out  of  elements  purely  masculine 
is  a  blunder  for  which  the  outraged  nature  of  things  will 
always  take  a  full  revenge. 

One  doubts  whether  the  Middle  Ages  were  en- 
tirely so  masculine  as  these  writers  report.  When 
man  repudiates  dogma  to-day  more  than  woman,  it 
is  scarcely  consistent  to  make  the  domination  of 
man  the  source  of  it  in  the  past  centuries,  unless  a 
distinction  is  made  in  the  kind  of  dogma.  It  is  too 
much  to  assume  that  logic  and  reason  are  matters 
purely  masculine.  It  is  also  too  much  to  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  woman's  heart  always  displays  the 
mother's  love  in  association  with  others.  Some  of 
the  severest  hatreds  and  bitterest  jealousies  have 
been  woman's.  On  the  other  side,  there  can  be 
seen  feminine  elements  in  the  past  within  the  her- 
mit life,  the  monastery  system,  and  various  forms 
of  worship.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  granted  that 
the  type  of  Christianity  which  could  produce  the 
crusades,  was  distinctively  masculine. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  far  better  to  recognize  the 
variableness  even  in   femininity  and  masculinity. 


28  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

In  the  male  there  is  and  should  be  secondary  fem- 
inine traits  ;  and  in  the  female  secondary  masculine 
traits.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  too  much  mascu- 
linity for  men,  and  too  much  femininity  for  women. 
What  these  writers  protest  against  is  the  too  great 
masculinity  of  the  Middle  Ages,  while  now  we 
should  equally  protest  against  the  too  great  fem- 
ininity of  the  present  age  as  far  as  religion  is  con- 
cerned. We  want  to  retain  all  that  is  good  of  the 
past.  The  **  reserve"  of  the  individual  and  the 
nation  as  in  business,  marks  the  progress.  Much 
done  in  each  century  of  history  is  but  scaffolding 
as  it  is  in  the  day's  work  of  the  individual.  The 
individual  must  take  with  him  from  childhood  all 
that  **  reserve"  which  childhood  has  accumulated 
for  him.  He  can  say  that  now  that  he  is  a  man, 
he  has  put  away  childish  things  ;  but  he  must  still 
know  that  of  the  childlike  disposition  it  was  said  : 
"Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  The  race 
too  must  conserve  its  past.  The  pendulum  must 
not  swing  too  far.  \n  casting  off  the  narrow  and 
constraining  masculine  elements,  the  Christian  life 
must  not  become  all  feminine.  The  masculine  it- 
self must  be  progressive.  The  same  proportion  of 
masculine  qualities  cannot  satisfy  our  standards  to- 
day as  it  did  yesterday.  The  increasing  mastery 
of  the  manliness  of  Christ  will  push  up  our  ideal  of 
manhood  as  the  centuries  roll  on. 

Thank  God   for  the   feminine.      Look  and    see 
how  here  and  there  the  departure  of  selfishness, 


EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY      29 

the  growth  of  courtesies,  the  prevalence  of  love, 
the  emphasis  on  the  delicate,  the  practical  use  of 
knowledge  to  the  betterment  of  life,  the  exaltation 
of  home  both  in  itself  and  its  relationship  to  society, 
there  can  be  seen  the  touch  of  women,  which  like 
the  touch  of  a  woman's  hand  on  a  sick  man's  pillow, 
reveals  the  delicacy  of  woman's  nature.  Let  the 
feminine  exist  primarily  in  woman  and  secondarily 
in  man  ;  and  let  the  masculine  continue  primarily 
in  man  and  secondarily  in  woman. 

But  the  third  and  most  important  evidence  of  the 
over-emphasis  of  the  feminine  type  of  Christianity 
is  the  clear  appeal  for  the  feminine  ideal.  Mr. 
Brierly,  for  example,  in  the  chapter  before  referred 
to,  says:  "It  is  the  woman's  nature,  more  in- 
timately than  man's,  that  expresses  the  innermost 
soul  of  religion,"  and  here  he  pleads  that  it  is  in  a 
region  beyond  reason,  in  the  sphere  of  intuition,  of 
feeling,  of  aspiration,  that  religion  finds  its  peren- 
nial spring.  **  It  is  because  along  that  side  of  its 
nature  humanity  most  quickly  and  most  surely  feels 
the  quiver  of  the  infinite  that  woman  must  inevit- 
ably in  the  future  be  recognized  as  arch-priestess  of 
religion."  Religion  is  not,  then,  equally  for  all, 
and  one  part  of  humanity  finds  it  especially  easy  to 
be  religious,  and  the  other  part  has  by  nature  no 
primary  claim  on  the  religious  life.  Man  reaches 
the  religious  life  chiefly  by  proxy.  Religion  is 
natural  to  woman  and  often  unnatural  to  man,  the 
more  so  the  more  masculine  he  is. 


30  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

An  open  confession,  though  not  so  intended,  of 
the  failure  of  this  conception  of  a  feminine  religion 
is  found  in  a  remarkable  paragraph  by  Dr.  James 
Stalker,  published  in  the  Chicago  "Standard"  of 
October  14,  1899: 

Nearly  every  one  would  feel  that  a  woman  atheist  was 
more  unnatural  than  a  man  making  the  same  profession  of 
skepticism  ;  indeed,  to  the  unsophisticated  such  a  being  would 
appear  a  monster.  On  the  other  hand  when  woman  becomes 
decidedly  religious,  she  becomes  most  truly  herself.  When  a 
strong  man  becomes  religious,  there  is  frequently  in  his  ap- 
pearance, for  a  time  at  least,  the  suggestion  of  something  un- 
natural ;  it  looks  as  if  nature  were  being  held  down  by  main 
force,  and  the  effects  of  the  struggle  and  the  scars  of  the  fight 
are  too  manifest  to  be  altogether  agreeable.  But  in  the  oppo- 
site sex  nature  and  grace  combine  so  perfectly  as  to  be  indis- 
tinguishable ;  grace  shines  as  nature  heightened  and  glorified. 

That  is,  by  her  nature  religion  is  natural  to 
woman,  and  by  his  nature  unnatural  to  man.  She 
becomes  more  of  a  woman,  but  he  seems  to  become 
less  of  a  man,  in  becoming  a  Christian. 

A  still  more  pronounced  emphasis  on  the  feminine 
type  is  to  be  found  in  two  articles  by  George  Mathe- 
son,  M.  A.,  D.  D.,  published  in  the  "  Biblical  World  ** 
of  July  and  August,  1898,  on  "  The  Feminine  Ideal 
of  Christianity."  Doctor  Matheson  declares  that 
the  history  of  the  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation 
is  the  history  of  the  struggle  between  two  ideals — 
the  masculine  and  the  feminine.  Christ^s  conquest 
of  the  world  is  the  conquest  of  the  male  by  the  fe- 
male element — the  seed  of  the  woman  bruising  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  A  FEMININE  CHRISTIANITY      3 1 

head  of  the  serpent.  Christ  is  himself  a  feminine 
power,  the  apotheosis  of  the  feminine  ideal,  and  his 
era  is  the  one  in  which  the  feminine  or  passive  type 
shall  be  exalted.  It  is  but  justice  to  Doctor  Mathe- 
son  to  say  that  he  shows  that  the  passive  virtues 
must  not  be  confounded  with  merely  negative  vir- 
tues, as  is  the  prevailing  tendency.  He  beautifully 
says  that  there  are  three  genders  of  virtues  as  there 
are  three  genders  of  sex — masculine,  feminine,  and 
neuter.  The  masculine  is  power  to  do  ;  the  femi- 
nine is  power  to  bear  ;  the  neuter  is  the  inability 
to  exert  any  power.  By  the  Beatitudes  we  learn 
that  the  virtues  called  passive  are  to  become  the 
most  powerful  influences  in  the  government  of  men, 
and  the  feminine  type  is  to  displace  the  reign  of 
masculine  power. 

With  this  strong  statement  of  the  case,  should 
be  put  the  famous  phrase  of  the  late  T.  De  Witt 
Talmage,  D.  D.,  which  he  made  the  title  of  a  ser- 
mon, "  The  Motherhood  of  God  ";  and  the  declara- 
tion of  Laurence  Oliphant  that  the  hope  for  women 
lies  in  the  recognition  by  man  of  the  divine  femi-  | 
nine  principle  in  God. 

Let  these  weighty  arguments  for  the  present 
stand.  The  cause  of  a  feminine  Christianity  could 
not  be  more  strongly  presented,  and  they  reveal  the 
present  status  of  Christianity  and  the  religious  life. 
With  a  few  eddies,  the  current  has  been  toward  ^ 
the  goal  of  femininity.  In  its  sweetest  and  best 
expression  it  makes  man  say  : 


32  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

Nature  made  thee 
To  temper  man  ;  we  had  been  brutes  without  you. 
Angels  are  pahited  fair,  to  lool<  like  you : 
There's  in  you  all  that  we  believe  of  heaven, 
Amazing  brightness,  purity,  and  truth, 
Eternal  joy,  and  everlasting  love. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES 

IT  was  a  woman — George  Eliot — who  wrote  that  a 
man's  mind — what  there  is  of  it — has  always  the 
advantage  of  being  masculine,  as  the  smallest 
birch  tree  is  of  a  higher  kind  than  the  most  soaring 
palm,  and  even  his  ignorance  is  of  sounder  quality. 
The  statement  is  true  except  in  relation  to  the  com- 
paratives "higher"  and  ''sounder."  There  is  a 
masculine  quality  and  there  is  a  feminine  quality  of 
mind,  though  the  exact  characteristics  of  either  can- 
not be  named  with  absolute  certainty.  One  writer 
can  say  that  "  An  ideal  typical  male  is  hard  to  de- 
fine, but  there  is  a  standard  ideal  woman  "  ;  but 
most  men  would  prefer  to  say  that  the  typical  ideal 
woman  is  a  variable  quantity.  Both  ideals  are  also 
changing.  The  man  of  a  century  ago  has  not  ex- 
actly the  same  standard  as  the  one  of  to-day.  Note, 
by  way  of  illustration,  the  change  of  the  ideal  Amer- 
ican personality  from  Washington  through  Lincoln  to 
the  present  president  of  the  United  States. 

Woman  too  has  a  different  ideal  before  her  to- 
day.    Both  physically  and  mentally   her  training 
has  changed.     A  distinction  must  be  made  between 
the  incidental  qualities  of  her  nature  due  to  her 
C  33 


34  THE   MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

environment — her  narrow  and  routine  life  witli 
conventional  laws  and  limitations  of  body  and 
mind — and  those  more  fundamental  qualities  due 
in  history  to  her  wife's  relationship  and  mother's 
heart.  Not  that  her  essential  characteristics  are  to 
be  based  solely  on  her  physical  function  and  the 
mental  traits  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  wife- 
hood and  motherhood.  In  the  economy  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  personality  is  of  true  worth  in 
and  of  itself,  and  the  worth  of  the  soul  cannot  be 
stated  merely  in  terms  of  evolution. 

The  physical  differences  between  the  sexes  com- 
prise many  secondary  characteristics  which  are 
tokens  of  varying  mental  life.  The  size  of  a  man's 
brain  is  uniformly  about  ten  per  cent,  larger  than 
the  woman's,  larger  than  the  mere  difference  in 
size  of  body  can  account  for.  Sir  J.  Crichton 
Browne  informed  Romanes  that  the  gray  matter  of 
the  female  brain  is  shallower  than  that  of  the  male, 
and  also  receives  a  proportionally  smaller  supply  of 
blood  ;  and  that  as  these  differences  date  from  an 
embryonic  period  of  life,  he  concludes  that  they 
constitute  a  fundamental  sexual  distinction  and  not 
one  that  can  be  explained  on  the  hypothesis  that  the 
educational  advantages  enjoyed  by  either  the  in- 
dividual man  or  by  the  male  sex  generally  through  a 
long  series  of  generations  have  stimulated  the  growth 
of  the  brain  in  the  one  sex  more  than  the  other. 

The  difference  between  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  brain   matter  indicates  a   difference  of   mental 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES  35 

power,  though  what  this  difference  is  must  be 
merely  a  matter  of  observation.  The  quantity  of 
brain  matter  is  no  indication  of  the  lack  or  excess 
of  mental  ability,  and  the  quality  of  brain  matter 
can  be  determined  by  no  one.  hi  this  observation 
of  feminine  mental  differences,  reference  may  be 
made  to  such  books  as  **  Adolescence,"  by  Pres. 
G.  Stanley  Hall  ;  "  Man  and  Woman,"  in  the 
Contemporary  Science  series  by  Ellis  ;  and  such 
magazine  articles  as  *'  Mental  Differences  Between 
Man  and  Woman  "  in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century," 
May,  1887,  by  G.  J.  Romanes  ;  and  "  Sex  in  Mathe- 
matics," in  the  "  Educational  Review,"  June, 
1895,  by  Prof.  Davis  E.  Smith,  of  the  Michigan 
State  Normal  School. 

It  may  be  said  at  the  start,  that  the  man's  mind 
is  naturally  more  inductive,  the  woman's  deductive. 
By  what  some  have  called  intuition  she  generalizes 
quickly,  but  more  often  on  the  basis  of  insufficient 
facts,  and  so  pays  less  attention  to  inconsistencies. 
She  also  is  not,  or  has  not  been,  of  a  creative 
genius.  Woman  takes  truth  as  she  finds  it,  while 
man  wants  to  create  truth.  She  excels  in  mental 
reproduction,  but  lacks  on  the  whole  originality. 
In  religion,  women  have  founded  but  a  few  sects  ; 
and  these,  except  in  one  or  two  instances  of  little 
moment,  though  this  meager  record  must  be  chiefly 
explained  by  the  absorption  of  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity and  training  by  the  man. 

On  the  other  side,  the  woman's  perceptive  powers 


36  THE   MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

are  much  more  keen  than  the  man's,  and  this 
on  account  of  the  greater  refinement  of  her  nerv- 
ous organization.  This  leads  in  turn  to  rapidity 
of  thought  which  often  seems  like  intuitive  in- 
sight. The  male  mind  moves  more  slowly  and  the 
conclusions  are  more  deliberate,  but  the  woman's 
mind  is  more  quick  to  perceive  and  swifter  of  action. 
Hall  has  these  sentences  :  "  Woman  has  rapid  tact 
to  extricate  herself  from  difficulties.  .  .  In  quick 
readiness,  when  the  sense  of  a  paragraph  is  to 
be  grasped  in  a  minimum  time  and  with  equal 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  woman  excels  in  quick 
apprehension  of  wholes.  .  .  Her  logical  thought 
is  slower,  but  her  associations  quicker  than  those 
of  man." 

There  is  no  doubt,  be  it  said  again,  that  much  of 
this  mental  peculiarity  is  due  to  previous  racial  his- 
tory and  present  lack  of  educational  advantage. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  woman  made  her  ap- 
pearance in  the  educational  world  only  about  a  half- 
century  ago,  when  Antoinette  Brown  entered  Ober- 
lin  College.  Yet  Professor  Smith  is  able  to  show 
that  of  10,000  examinations  in  New  York  State, 
sixty-three  and  six-tenths  per  cent  of  the  young 
men  passed  and  fifty-nine  and  two-tenths  of  the 
young  women,  though  of  those  who  did  pass,  the 
average  was  the  same,  thus  proving  that  there  was 
practically  no  difference  in  the  grasp  of  such  a  men- 
tal discipline  as  mathematics.  In  1900,  Alice  Free- 
man Palmer  said  ; 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL   DIFFERENCES  37 

Twenty-five  years  ago  we  were  all  sure — I  was  sure — that 
when  women  began  in  large  numbers  to  go  to  college,  and 
were  free  to  choose,  they  would  turn  mainly  to  languages  and 
literature  ;  to  history,  fine  arts,  music  ;  the  esthetic  side  of 
life.  I  thought  of  their  sympathy,  their  imagination,  their 
affection,  and  I  expected  they  would  excel  in  the  humanities. 
I  never  foresaw  that  they  would  turn  impassioned  to  pure 
mathematics,  to  physics,  chemistry,  biology,  astronomy. 
Yet  that  is  the  evidence  of  twenty-five  years. 

In  the  realm  of  emotions,  women  are  certainly  j\ 
superior.  There  are  individual  exceptions  among 
women  to  this  rule  as  in  almost  all  other  traits,  and 
many  women  who  themselves  are  examples  of 
emotional  extremes,  deny  the  fact.  Unfortunately, 
an  emotional  disposition  is  made  the  proof  of  lack 
of  intellectual  power.  But  it  is  only  the  misuse  of 
emotion,  not  the  abundance,  which  is  to  be  depre- 
cated. The  theory  of  Professor  James,  of  Harvard,  . 
is  that  the  bodily  changes  follow  directly  the  per- 
ception of  the  exciting  fact,  and  that  our  feeling  of 
the  same  changes  as  they  occur  is  the  emotion  ; 
that  is,  the  physical  disturbance  of  the  heart,  blood- 
vessels, viscera,  and  muscles,  are  not  the  conse- 
quences but  the  cause  of  the  emotion.  Granting 
this,  it  follows  that  there  is  sure  to  be  more  emotion 
in  women,  not  primarily  because  they  are  mentally 
more  volatile,  but  because  of  a  higher  nervous 
organism  which  responds  more  readily  and  to  a 
greater  degree  to  the  exciting  causes.  This  is  what 
Ellis  probably  means  when  he  explains  that  the  (j 
emotionality  of  women  can  never  be  brought  to  the  li 


38  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

male  standard,  because  of  the  physiological  differ- 
ences which  in  turn  are  connected  with  many 
secondary  sexual  differences,  like  the  tendency  of 
women  to  anaemia,  etc. 

There  is  of  course  an  excess  of  nervous  excita- 
bility in  some  women  by  reason  of  environment, 
and  in  all  women  by  means  of  heredity  ;  but  such 
is  not  the  normal  condition.  Dr.  Sarah  Hackett 
Stevenson,  of  Chicago,  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  idea  that  woman  is  born  to  nervous  and  hyster- 
ical conditions  is  wrong.  Give  growing  girls  plenty 
of  exercise  and  fresh  air  and  there  will  be  fewer 
nervous  women.  Yet  it  is  an  accepted  fact  that 
hysteria,  the  symptoms  of  which  are  a  weakness 
of  the  nervous  system,  showing  itself  by  a  ten- 
dency to  over-action  and  irritability,  morbid  sensi- 
bility and  mental  anxiety,  is  much  more  common 
to  women.  Romanes  declared  that  judgment  with 
women  is  more  frequently  exercised  from  the  side 
of  the  emotions  ;  Hall,  that  their  vaso-motor  sys- 
tem is  more  excitable,  they  are  more  emotional  ; 
Professor  Coe  in  his  **  Spiritual  Life,"  that  two  of 
the  best  established  general  differences  between 
the  male  and  the  female  mind  are  these  :  first,  the 
female  mind  tends  more  than  the  male  to  feeling  ; 
second,  it  is  more  suggestible. 

It  is  a  somewhat  newer  method  of  describing 
woman's  peculiar  make-up  to  ascribe  to  her  sug- 
gestibility. To  be  subject  to  suggestion,  is  simply 
to  be  subject  to  hypnotic  influences.     Any  medical 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES  39 

writer  or  experienced  hypnotist  can  present  the 
same  conclusions  in  regard  to  women.  Hypnotism  is 
due  to  decreased  control  of  the  higher  nervous  cen- 
ters and  an  increased  activity  of  the  lower  centers. 
Allied  to  hypnotism  is  hysteria  on  the  one  side,  and, 
on  the  other,  catalepsy,  ecstasy,  and  somnambu- 
lism. In  ecstasy  or  trance,  visions  are  often  seen 
and  these  can  be  recalled  in  the  waking  hours. 
Ellis,  who  treats  this  subject  fully,  gives  the  result 
of  an  investigation  made  by  Prof.  Henry  Sedgwick, 
who  examined  17,000  persons  in  regard  to  halluci- 
nation, and  found  that  656  men  and  1,033  women 
of  the  number  affirmed  that  at  some  time  in  their 
life  they  had  experienced  an  hallucination.  Ellis 
concludes  that  women  respond  to  stimuli,  psychic 
or  physical,  more  readily  than  men. 

On  the  basis  of  these  facts,  it  is  fair  to  conclude 
that  women  are  more  often  hypnotized  ;  that  they 
go  in  flocks,  and  in  social  matters  are  less  prone 
to  stand  out  with  salient  individuality  ;  that  with 
them  influence  is  more  potent  than  argument. 
Ellis  declares  that  even  in  trivial  matters  the  aver- 
age woman  more  easily  accepts  statements  and 
opinions  than  a  man,  and  in  more  serious  matters 
she  is  prepared  to  die  for  a  statement  or  an  opinion, 
provided  that  her  emotional  nature  is  sufficiently 
thrilled.  However,  in  suggestibility  as  in  mere  emo- 
tionality, it  is  certain  that  a  woman's  nature  can  be 
modified.  The  woman  of  a  century  ago  who  could 
more  easily  faint  on  occasion,  could  also  see  visions  ; 


40  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

but  now  she  either  does  not  have  so  many,  or  does 
not  confess  them  when  she  does  have  them.  Hal- 
lucination is  not  nearly  so  common  among  the  civi- 
lized as  among  the  uncivilized,  among  the  educated 
as  among  the  ignorant.  Emotion  is,  to  a  large 
degree,  a  question  of  control,  and  this  control  can 
be  perfected  by  training. 

It  is  with  special  reference  to  woman's  intellec- 
tuality, emotionality,  and  suggestibility,  that  three 
other  feminine  characteristics  can  be  named.  The 
first  is,  that  while  man  dwells  more  in  the  abstract, 
woman  dwells  more  in  the  concrete.  The  child  to 
her  is  a  concrete  object  of  love  and  endeavor.  Per- 
haps this  is  what  John  Stuart  Mill  had  in  mind 
when  he  said  that  the  general  bent  of  her 
talents  is  towards  the  practical  ;  but  more  prob- 
ably he  was  noticing  the  confined  sphere  of  activity 
and  common  household  duties  to  which  women 
were  necessarily  limited.  It  is  well  known  that 
Herbert  Spencer  felt  that  woman  has  suffered  from 
an  earlier  cessation  of  individual  evolution  necessi- 
tated by  nature's  preparation  for  maternity,  and 
therefore  lost  what  are  the  latest  products  of  human 
evolution — the  power  of  abstract  reasoning,  and 
that  more  abstract  of  the  emotions,  the  sentiment 
of  justice.  Woman,  at  least,  sees  more  vividly 
the  things  near-by,  and  the  universal  is  generally 
conceived  by  her,  if  conceived  at  all,  through  the 
medium  of  the  few  individual  persons  and  things  of 
her  common  experience. 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL   DIFFERENCES  41 

The  second  added  characteristic  is  woman's  af- 
fectionate disposition.  Woman  loves  more  deeply 
than  man,  and  without  love  or  the  return  of  love, 
there  is  little  that  can  satisfy  her  nature.  There 
are  few  women  brave  enough  to  work  their  way  to 
a  distant  goal  in  the  face  of  complete  indifference. 
Mrs.  Annie  Besant,  with  all  her  leadership,  shows 
the  feminine  desire  for  an  object  of  devotion  far 
more  than  she  realized  when  she  said  :  "  Looking 
back  over  my  life,  I  see  that  its  key-note,  through 
all  the  blunders  and  blind  mistakes  and  clumsy 
follies,  has  been  the  longing  for  sacrifice  to  some- 
thing felt  as  greater  than  self."  Women  are  pre-  \ 
eminently  affectionate,  sympathetic. 

By  virtue  of  this  affectionate  and  sympathetic 
disposition,  women  are  also  altruistic.  They  are  ' 
ready  for  long-suffering  and  self-denial.  They 
begin  with  the  child  in  the  arms ;  they  forget 
not  the  outcast  of  the  streets.  They  have  been 
prominent  both  in  quiet  ministrations  at  home  and 
in  such  public  reforms  as  remove  dangers  from  the 
tempted  and  distress  from  the  weak.  They  are 
self-forgetful  and  unselfish  more  than  man,  and 
show  in  all  the  broader  relationships  of  life  some- 
thing of  the  self-sacrifice  that  they  have  had  as 
wife  and  mother. 

A  fourth  characteristic  is  conservatism.     This  is  ) 
in  part  an  intellectual  attitude,  but  is  also  a  quality 
of  emotionality,   love  choosing  a   concrete   object 
and  wanting  no  other.     Woman  lives  in  the  known 


42  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

and  in  tlie  past,  and  therefore  her  influence  is  for 
stability  with  the  disadvantage  of  a  lessened  varia- 
bility and  individuality.  She  has  especially  to  do 
with  the  task  of  preserving  every  acquired  good 
with  the  disadvantage  often  of  perpetuating  error 
and  preserving  meaningless  custom.  No  sweeter 
expression  of  this  characteristic,  as  well  as  two 
others,  could  be  found  than  that  of  Pres.  Caro- 
line Hazard,  of  Wellesley  College,  in  the  "Sunday- 
school  Times  "  of  June  23,  1900  : 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  women  are  preeminent: 
they  are  the  binders  together  of  society  ;  they  are  the  beauti- 
fiers  of  life  ;  and  they  are  the  preservers  of  morals.  That  is, 
women  must  stand  for  conservatism,  for  grace,  for  purity.  .  . 
They  are  the  great  conservative  force  in  society.  Not  only 
are  traditions  handed  down  by  them,  but  they  have  to  hold 
the  more  headlong  processes  of  thought  in  check.  Naturally 
a  woman  falls  back  on  her  experience.  .  .  A  woman  must  be 
trained  in  a  very  liberal  school  not  to  have  conservatism 
degenerate  into  obstinacy. 

After  saying  that  a  woman  is  less  original,  more 
emotional,  more  suggestible,  whereby  it  can  also 
be  said  that  she  is  less  abstract  in  thought,  more 
affectionate,  altruistic,  and  conservative  of  customs 
and  morals,  the  point  is  reached  where  it  can  be 
said  that  woman  is  anabolic,  and  man  katabolic. 
No  one  can  accuse  woman  of  lack  of  courage  ;  in 
fact,  in  the  power  of  endurance,  she  is  uniformly 
superior  to  man  ;  but  her  courage  is  more  of  a 
fortitude  which  submits  to  an   inevitable  burden. 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES  43 

She  does,  as  Professor  Lombroso  shows,  bear  pain 
and  operations  better  than  man,  but  she  is  less 
aggressive  and  independent.  Her  love  of  sym- 
pathy, her  acceptance  of  insistent  ideas,  her  con- 
servative bent,  her  lack  of  originality,  are  all  allied 
to  her  dependence  and  lack  of  force.  The  man 
has  courage,  pluck,  robustness,  leadership,  will- 
power, firmness,  decision,  determination.  He  de- 
lights in  competition  and  rivalry.  He  is  a  born 
fighter.  So  Madame  de  Stael  said  that  men  err 
from  selfishness,  women  because  they  are  weak. 
He  has  the  tenacity  of  purpose  to  overcome  ob- 
stacles ;  she  has  more  fear  and  timidity.  He  con- 
quers new  territory  ;  she  cultivates  the  old.  He 
overcomes  by  force  ;  she  by  love. 

If  in  this  comparison  of  the  volitional  element  in 
the  masculine  and  feminine  natures,  the  woman 
seems  to  appear  to  disadvantage,  it  is  but  another 
proof  of  the  awakening  of  the  masculine  ideal,  and 
also  of  the  failure  to  discriminate  between  the 
relative  value  of  both  ideals  in  the  appropriate  sex. 
The  woman  loves  strength  in  the  man.  The  more 
virile  he  is,  even  sometimes  rough  and  cruel,  the 
more  he  attracts  her.  On  the  other  side,  the  man 
loves  beauty,  grace,  and  gentleness  in  the  woman. 
It  is  our  error  that  we  have  often  carried  both  our 
masculine  and  feminine  ideals  to  an  extreme.  It  is 
true  that  at  times  and  in  certain  localities  there  has 
arisen  the  exaltation  of  the  non-personalized  woman, 
like  every  other  woman  in  the  one   special  trait. 


44  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

that  she  is  frail  and  dependent,  clinging  and  lifeless. 
In  Europe,  it  is  more  difficult  than  in  America  for 
the  woman  to  differentiate  herself  from  her  asso- 
ciates. Unfortunately,  the  Bible  is  supposed  to  be 
an  accessory  to  this  assassination  of  feminine  per- 
sonality, and  the  classified  woman  is  supposed  to 
be  the  obedient,  unthinking,  subservient  wife  and 
daughter. 

Again,  taking  the  woman's  physical  relationship 
to  man  as  the  basis,  and  with  her  natural  mental 
and  moral  relationship  to  him  added,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  agree  with  Spencer  that  in  the  evolu- 
l  tionary  process  there  has  been  a  fit  adjustment  of 
i  behavior,  an  ability  to  please,  a  love  of  approba- 
tion, an  ability  to  disguise  feelings,  and  an  admira- 
tion of  power.  The  female  has  always  robed  her- 
self in  attractive  beauty,  hi  her  is  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  artistic  sense.  Naturally,  a  woman  is 
more  artistic  than  scientific,  though  oftentimes  in 
woman,  as  occurred  in  Darwin,  the  love  for  poetry 
and  music  is  dwarfed.  She  is  a  good  musician  to 
reproduce,  but  not  to  create.  She  is  a  good  painter, 
for  she  imitates  well.  She  is  a  good  actress,  for 
her  artistic  sense  allied  to  her  strong  emotionality 
enables  her  to  identify  herself  with  her  part.  She 
is  a  good  speaker,  though  so  far  she  has  not  been 
able  to  excel  in  lengthened  reasoned  discourse. 
Whatever  pertains  to  harmony,  beauty,  charm,  she 
can  claim  as  her  own  ;  and  she  is  a  subtle  critic  of 
that  which  adds  to  the  useful,  the  ornamental. 


THE  MENTAL  SEXUAL  DIFFERENCES  45 

Such  is  woman,  emotional,  suggestible,  affec- 
tionate, conservative,  dependent,  artistic,  moral,  a 
siii  generis.  As  an  adult  has  no  moral  right  to 
judge  a  child  by  adult  standards,  so  the  man  has 
no  right  to  judge  a  w^oman  by  masculine  standards. 
At  the  best,  she  is  the  refiner,  conserver,  and  beau- 
tifier  of  life.  **A  woman,"  says  George  Eliot, 
''ought  to  produce  the  effect  of  exquisite  music." 

She  was  like 
A  dream  of  poetry,  that  may  not  be 
Written  or  told— beautiful  exceedingly. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MODERN  VERSUS  THE  BIBLICAL 
RELIGIOUS  TYPE 

THE  modern  type  of  the  religious  life  is  feminine. 
No  better  proof  can  be  given  than  the  preva- 
lent representation  of  heaven  in  which  a  man 
is  only  inserted  in  obedience  to  biblical  exactness, 
and  then  is  made  to  appear  as  nearly  feminine  as 
possible.  This  is  more  remarkable  when  many 
women  leaders  feel  that  Christianity  does  not  do 
justice  to  them.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton 
rebels  bitterly  against  the  so-called  Christian  les- 
sons of  woman's  inferiority  in  the  scale  of  being 
and  her  subjection  to  man.  The  Old  Testament, 
she  says,  represents  her  as  a  marplot  in  creation, 
an  afterthought,  the  origin  of  sin  in  collusion  with 
the  devil,  cursed  of  God  in  maternity,  and  marriage 
for  her  made  a  slavery.  Nevertheless,  practically, 
the  woman  has  reigned  in  her  subjection,  and  the 
hand  that  has  rocked  the  cradle  has  ruled  the  world. 
The  woman  who  could  train  the  boy  in  the  home 
has  been  able  to  give  him  a  feminine  ideal  of  religion. 
That  woman  is  more  emotional  is  manifest  in  the 
importance  attached  to  emotional  elements  in  relig- 
ion. The  investigations  of  writers  like  Starbuck 
46 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  47 

have  repeatedly  shown  that  men  become  Christians 
oftener  for  rational,  women  for  emotional  reasons  ; 
and  it  is  on  the  emotional  element  that  the  strongest 
emphasis  has  been  placed  in  the  popular  religious 
appeals.  Examine  a  modern  prayer-meeting,  and 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  test  of  the  value  of  the 
meeting  is  in  the  extent  and  quality  of  the  feeling 
produced.  The  joy,  peace,  and  happiness  are  a 
proof  that  God  is  present,  as  he  is  not  supposed  to 
be  with  the  cold,  hard-headed  business  man  who  is 
computing  his  accounts.  Not  in  the  action  of  the 
will  or  the  intellect  is  God  primarily  manifest,  but  in 
the  emotions.  Revivals  have  been  most  successful 
when  most  feeling  has  been  manifest.  There  is 
danger  of  repudiating  emotion  in  religion  ;  it  has  its 
place.  But  it  must  not  usurp  the  place  of  the  will 
and  intellect ;  and  that  it  has  is  an  example  of  the 
over-feminization  of  the  religious  life. 

Then  again,  woman  is  more  suggestible,  and  this 
characteristic  is  a  standard  of  religious  experience 
generally.  Prof.  George  Albert  Coe,  in  his  book 
on  "  The  Spiritual  Life,"  has  given  the  results  of 
an  extended  examination  on  this  subject,  and  he 
shows  that  those  who  are  easily  hypnotized,  the 
suggestible,  are  the  very  individuals  who  have 
these  striking  phenomena  of  the  Christian  life, 
often  called  religious  experiences.  Now  woman  is 
more  affected  by  external  influences  than  man, 
gives  way  to  example  and  precept,  and  is  more 
subject  to  hallucination  and  striking  experiences. 


48  THE  MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

Women  are  converted  oftener  in  the  revival  meet- 
ing ;  men  oftener  alone.  Worldliness  has  been 
charged  upon  the  church  because  the  old-time 
revival  seems  to  have  died  out  except  in  isolated 
cases.  It  is  rather  true  that  man  has  asserted  his 
nature,  has  become  less  suggestible,  and  where  his 
conversion  was  awaited  on  the  revival  type  he  has 
remained  outside  of  the  fold  of  the  church. 

The  present  trend  of  religious  thought  is  to  em- 
phasize the  personal  relationship  of  the  believer  to 
Christ.  A  woman  has  a  more  intimate  relationship 
with  Christ  ;  while  with  a  man,  even  though  he 
look  on  Christ  as  a  personal  friend,  there  is  more 
intellectual  content  to  his  conception  and  more  de- 
votion to  the  heroic  found  in  Christ.  Both  are  cor- 
rect relationships,  but  the  formulation  of  belief  is 
a  necessary  condition  of  the  masculine  mind.  A 
man  becomes  entangled  in  the  intellectual  difficul- 
ties of  religion,  and  when  he  works  his  way  through 
to  his  own  satisfaction,  it  is  generally  by  thought 
and  with  a  definite  idea  of  the  personality  of  Christ. 
When  he  thinks  of  God  he  combines  in  God  those 
attributes  which  he  must  ascribe  to  the  Deity. 
With  woman,  religion  is  more  concrete,  faith  more 
personal,  love  more  emotional.  To-day  dogma, 
even  by  man,  is  repudiated,  but  that  is  due  to  that 
feminine  conservatism  which  has  held  an  outgrown 
dogma,  the  nomenclature  of  a  long-past  philosophy. 
Men  think  to-day  more  than  they  ever  have  thought 
before,  only  they  want  fact  not  fancy.    They  build 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  49 

Up  theoretical  systems  with  as  much  zest  as  ever, 
only  they  want  legitimate  premises.  The  name 
*'  dogma  "  is  tabooed,  but  the  masculine  mind  which 
once  demanded  dogma  still  demands  it,  and  is  still 
producing  it. 

The  altruistic  sentiment  of  woman  is  the  ideal  of 
society,  though  not  always  the  practice.  But  altru- 
ism may  be  too  sentimental.  The  curse  of  all 
charity  is  indiscriminate  giving.  It  may  be  love, 
but  it  is  not  wisdom  for  the  mother  to  yield  her 
better  judgment  to  the  whims  of  a  son.  There  is 
too  much  of  the  sentimental  altruism  in  religious 
teaching  to-day,  and  the  ruggedness  of  the  law  has 
been  smoothed  away  to  the  freedom  of  license. 
There  is  an  altruism  that  is  allied  to  chivalry,  and 
this  is  masculine.  The  word  "chivalry"  is  ety- 
mologically  the  same  as  the  word  cavalry,  and  in 
the  Italian  and  Spanish  the  same  word  does  service 
for  both  ideas.  Chivalry  is  martial,  and  is  the  dis- 
play of  soldierly  aggressiveness  in  behalf  of  the 
weak.  **  The  only  chivalry  worth  having,"  sweetly 
writes  Louisa  M.  Alcott,  "is  the  readiness  to  pay 
deference  to  the  old,  protect  the  feeble,  and  serve 
womankind,  regardless  of  age,  rank,  or  color"; 
but  that  altruism  which  discards  punishment,  ban- 
ishes hell,  winks  at  lax  habits  of  morality,  makes 
church  discipline  a  farce,  public  justice  a  fiasco,  and 
social  purity  an  abnormality,  may  not  be  woman's 
desire,  but  it  is  the  result  of  a  feminine  altruism. 

Woman  is  dependent,  and  the  modern  religious 

D 


50  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

life  is  far  too  much  a  self-abnegation  that  makes  the 
Christian  lose  his  independence,  cultivate  only 
meekness,  and  subdue  his  natural  assertiveness. 
Self-sacrifice  carried  to  an  extreme  has  begotten  a 
race  of  would-be  martyrs,  and  obedience  to  Christ 
is  made  synonymous  with  the  loss  of  manhood. 
The  passive  virtues  are  exalted  beyond  proportion. 
Woman's  natural  religiousness  is  so  far  conceded 
that  the  religious  life  is  made  to  include  just  those 
characteristics  which  she  possesses,  and  man  is  so 
much  by  nature  farther  away  that  the  path  back  to 
God  is  a  longer  one,  and  is  only  to  be  traversed  by 
denying  what  God  has  made  him.  It  is  of  the  same 
piece  of  argument  that  the  intellect  is  made  the 
instrument  of  confusion  and  doubt,  and  the  "heart " 
(/.  e.,  not  the  whole  of  man's  self,  but  his  emotions) 
the  sole  faculty  of  knowing  God.  The  more  intel- 
lect, therefore,  the  farther  a  man  is  from  God,  and 
the  greater  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  return.  It 
would  be  a  pity,  indeed,  for  us  to  say  that  since 
woman  has  the  gift  of  trusting  and  loving  and  the 
sense  of  dependence,  she  is  more  easily  guided  into 
the  true  path,  for  thereby  it  would  be  necessary  to 
say  that  God  created  man  naturally  incapable  of 
exercising  the  religious  faculty,  if  indeed  he  has 
one.  The  Bible  does  say,  "  Except  ye  become  as 
little  children,  ye  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  but  it  does  not  say,  "Except  ye  become  as 
women,  ye  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Woman  has  a  love  for  the  beautiful,  and  here 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  5 1 

again  we  find  the  feminine  trait  exalted  in  the 
church.  Sermons  must  be  rhetorical  and  oratorical, 
pleasing  to  the  artistic  sense.  There  is  more 
"seeming"  than  ''being,"  too  little  of  rugged 
simplicity  in  the  statement  of  eternal  truths.  Log- 
ical thought  is  not  so  acceptable,  but  beautiful  de- 
scription especially  adapted  to  produce  emotions  is 
much  desired.  Women  are  more  attracted  by  ap- 
pearances, more  fastidious,  more  subservient  to 
social  rules,  which  rules  aim  to  cultivate  good  form. 
The  other  parts  of  the  church  service,  especially 
the  music,  must  be  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
artistic  sense.  Ruggedness,  masculinity,  is  not  de- 
sirable. No  wonder  Professor  Starbuck  found  that 
girls  express  a  pleasure  in  religious  observances 
more  frequently  than  the  boys  by  a  ratio  of  seven- 
teen to  seven,  while,  on  the  contrary,  boys  express 
a  distinct  dislike  for  them  more  often  than  the  girls 
by  a  ratio  of  twenty-one  to  nine.  Men  like  a 
feminine  woman  as  the  counterpart  of  themselves  ; 
but  they  do  not  like  a  feminine  service  which  is 
supposed  to  be  an  expression  of  their  own  mascu- 
line nature.  They  are  not  women,  and  cannot  act 
like  women. 

Now  the  biblical  conception  of  the  Christian's 
life  is  not  so  one-sidedly  feminine.  There  are 
many  passages  which  indicate  the  aggressive  and 
masculine  character  of  the  Christian  life.  Paul's 
martial  comparisons  are  to  the  point.  A  soldier  is 
to  be  obedient  and  disciplined,  but  he  must  also  be 


52  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

courageous  and  energetic.  He  must  put  on  the 
whole  armor  of  God  ;  and,  while  it  is  true  that  all 
but  one  of  the  implements  of  warfare  are  defensive, 
yet  the  soldier  is  to  have  skill  and  strength  and 
vigor  in  using  his  sword.  The  masculine  type  has, 
indeed,  been  connected  with  cruelty,  but  this  is  the 
excess  of  power  and  not  its  rightful  use. 

In  other  biblical  representations  the  circumstances 
under  which  admonitions  have  been  given  have  not 
always  been  clearly  recognized.  That  Paul  com- 
manded the  Corinthian  women  to  keep  silence  in 
the  church  is  clearly  recognized  to-day  in  the  North, 
at  least,  as  a  temporary  adjustment  to  social  rules. 
The  reader  of  the  Gospels  can  see  how  much  of 
what  even  Christ  said  was  uttered  in  view  of 
the  Pharisaic  and  Sadducean  prejudices.  Christ 
preached  to  his  times,  as  did  Paul  and  every  Old 
Testament  prophet.  He  was  the  Son  of  Man,  but 
he  was  an  Israelite  and  spoke  his  truth  for  the  help 
of  Jewish  disciples  and  the  instruction  of  a  Jewish 
audience.  The  Beatitudes,  for  example,  are  an 
eternal  statement  of  the  way  of  blessedness,  but 
they  are  not  inclusive  of  all  Christian  qualities. 
They  were  uttered  in  view  of  the  mixed  Jewish 
audience  under  the  domination  of  Pharisees  in 
whose  life  and  in  whose  teachings  was  a  lamentable 
lack  of  the  passive  virtues. 

Take  again  the  word  **love,"  used  so  often  in 
the  command  to  love  God  and  to  love  man.  The 
modern  word  "love"  may  simply  mean  affection 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  53 

mingled  with  sentiment,  and  be  a  matter  of  attrac- 
tion not  choice.  But  the  Greek  word  has  a  higher 
meaning.  It  includes  the  trend  of  the  whole  being 
toward  the  object  of  choice,  and  is  based  on  high 
moral  grounds.  An  objector  declares  that  he  can- 
not love  his  neighbor  ;  he  is  not  attracted.  But  a 
Mackay  can  say  in  the  heart  of  Africa  that  he  loves 
his  people.  A  study  of  the  twenty-first  chapter  of 
John,  with  the  variation  in  the  Greek  word  "love," 
at  least  has  some  bearing  on  this  topic.  There  is  a 
love  which  is  mere  infatuation  and  emotion  ;  but 
there  is  a  love  which  is  the  going  out  in  unselfish 
devotion  of  a  man's  heart. 

Medieval  art  has  always  pictured  John  as  a  fair 
youth  whose  face  was  sweetly  feminine  and  whose 
bearing  was  a  combination  of  grace  and  modesty. 
But  the  real  John  was  a  different  character.  The 
three  instances  before  the  crucifixion  in  which  he  is 
prominently  mentioned  are  :  First,  his  request  that 
fire  might  be  brought  down  upon  the  Samaritans  for 
their  inhospitality  to  the  Master ;  second,  the  for- 
bidding of  the  outsider  from  casting  out  demons  in 
Christ's  name  ;  and  third,  the  request  to  have  a 
seat  next  to  Christ  in  the  establishment  of  his 
kingdom.  It  is  true  that  on  each  occasion  John 
was  rebuked  ;  yet  not  for  his  aggressiveness,  but 
for  the  method  of  expression.  He  was  told  in  fact 
that  Christ's  cup  should  be  his  cup  and  Christ's 
baptism  should  be  his  baptism.  John  grew  sweeter 
as  the  years  rolled  on  ;  but  he  who  could  write. 


54  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

"Love  one  another,"  also  wrote,  "  I  write  unto 
you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong." 

In  I  Cor.  i6  :  13  is  a  favorite  text  for  men,  but  it 
means  more  than  the  surface  rendering  indicates. 
The  four  words,  "  Quit  you  like  men,"  are  a  trans- 
lation of  but  one  word  in  the  Greek  which  is  formed 
by  taking  the  word  which  in  the  Greek  means  a 
man  as  contrasted  to  a  woman,  and  making  a  verb 
out  of  it  in  the  imperative  mood.  This  is  the  only 
place  in  the  New  Testament  where  it  is  used,  but 
it  occurs  also  in  the  Septuagint  of  Josh,  i  :  6,  where 
Joshua  is  told  to  be  strong.  The  word  is  not  the 
generic  term  **man,"  and  so  does  not  mean  that 
we  should  live  as  human  beings  with  the  due  use 
of  reason,  will-power,  and  conscience,  although 
this  would  have  made  a  worthy  admonition  ;  but 
it  is  an  appeal  to  the  man  to  live  as  a  man 
should  ;  in  other  words,  it  tells  him  to  be  manly, 
not  effeminate. 

How  often  has  the  verse  on  losing  one's  life  been 
quoted,  and  how  often  has  the  emphasis  been  not 
on  the  finding,  but  on  the  losing.  That  which  is 
lost  is  not  the  self ;  that  is  saved.  The  losing  is 
but  a  preparation  for  the  finding.  Self-denial  is  not 
the  end  of  life,  but  the  taking  up  of  one's  mission 
— the  cross — which  is  God's  will  as  embodied  in 
service  to  mankind.  The  Bible  wants  self-denial, 
not  self-abnegation  ;  and  that  not  for  itself,  but  for 
the  consequent  self-realization,  self-perfection,  self- 
expression. 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  55 

There  are  few  passages  oftener  misinterpreted 
when  quoted  than  Phil.  2  :  12,  13  :  "  So  then,  my 
beloved,  even  as  ye  have  always  obeyed,  not  as  in 
my  presence  only,  but  now  much  more  in  my  ab- 
sence, work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling  ;  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you  both 
to  will  and  to  work  for  his  good  pleasure." 

The  simplest  and  sometimes  the  accepted  inter- 
pretation of  the  verses  is  that  we  are  to  work 
"  out  "  in  the  external  life  what  God  works  **  in  " 
the  internal  life  ;  but  this  does  not  correspond  to 
the  exact  meaning  of  the  words  in  the  verses.  The 
words  **  work  out "  mean  to  effect,  to  bring  about 
a  certain  result.  They  emphasize  that  permanence 
of  effort,  that  constant  endeavor,  that  bring,  as 
their  consequence,  salvation.  The  word  *'  own  " 
in  "work  out  your  own  salvation,"  does  not  mean 
the  human  achievement  as  opposed  to  God's  assist- 
ance, but  to  the  aid  furnished  by  Paul's  presence. 
Paul  found  that  the  Philippian  members  were 
depending  upon  him,  and  not  exulting  in  the  bound- 
less spiritual  resources  within  themselves.  He  ex- 
horts them  that  whether  he  himself  is  present  or 
absent,  to  work  out  their  own  salvation.  There  is 
more  inherent  power  in  the  Christian  than  in  all 
human  pillars  of  support.  **  Be  strong  and  show 
thyself  a  man." 

But  what  is  the  ground  for  encouragement  ? 
This,  that  within  us  God  himself  is  effectively 
operative.     He  it  is  who  enables  us  to  work  out  our 


56  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

own  salvation.  To  achieve  this  salvation  God  be- 
stows two  blessings,  the  first  being  the  desire,  the 
taste,  the  inclination,  the  wish,  yes,  the  purpose, 
the  resolution  to  do  God's  will.  This,  however, 
may  not  be  sufficient.  The  wish  may  be  a  blasted 
hope  and  the  resolution  may  fail  of  execution.  The 
prodigal  may  resolve  and  yet  never  go  to  his  father. 
"For  to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  to  do  that 
which  is  good  is  not.  For  the  good  which  1  would, 
I  do  not :  but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I 
practise."  God,  therefore,  adds  to  the  first  bless- 
ing a  second  and  indispensable  blessing,  the  power 
and  ability  as  well  as  the  inclination  and  resolution 
to  achieve. 

Two  essential  principles  are  enunciated  in  this 
Philippian  passage.  First,  salvation  is  an  achieve- 
ment. Salvation  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Bible  in 
two  aspects — as  a  state  immediately  entered  upon 
at  the  time  of  conversion  and  as  the  goal  of  life  for 
which  we  hope  (i  Thess.  5  :  8),  and  which  is  to  be 
revealed  to  us  in  the  last  time  (i  Peter  i  :  5). 
Sometimes  this  final  state  of  salvation  is  repre- 
sented as  God's  gift.  The  transformation  *'  into 
the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory  "  with  the  goal 
of  being  like  Jesus  is  "  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit" 
(2  Cor.  3  :  18).  ''  He  who  began  a  good  work  in 
you  will  perfect  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ" 
(Phil.  I  :  6).  Sometimes  it  is  represented  as  an 
achievement.  We  are  to  "  attain  "  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  ;  to  "  overcome,"  to  "  strive  to 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  57 

enter  in,"  to  win  the  ''  prize."  Salvation  is  not  a 
mere  condition,  it  is  an  attainment. 

But  the  second  essential  principle  enunciated  in 
the  verses  is  that  salvation  can  only  be  an  achieve- 
ment through  the  divine  reinforcement.  "I  can  do 
all  things  in  him  that  strengtheneth  me  "  (Phil.  4 : 
13),  *'  striving  according  to  his  working  which  work- 
eth  in  me  mightily  "  (Col.  i  :  29).  "  I  labored  more 
abundantly  than  they  all  :  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace 
of  God  which  was  in  me  "  (i  Cor.  15  :  10).  And 
so  many  other  passages. 

In  the  attainment  of  righteousness  and  the  subju* 
gation  of  sin,  four  solutions  have  been  proposed. 
First,  self-redemption  by  the  natural  powers  inher- 
ent in  human  nature.  Such  is  Kant's  view,  that  as 
a  nature  perfectly  pure  can  fall  by  its  own  will  into 
evil,  so  a  man  in  a  depraved  state  can  return  to 
strength  and  purity  again  as  he  forms  for  himself  a 
lofty  ideal  and  lives  within  the  pale  of  an  ethical 
community,  that  is,  the  church. 

A  second  view  is  that  upon  our  subjection  to  God 
we  henceforth  become  the  harp  to  be  played  on,  the 
piece  of  clay  to  be  molded,  the  stone  to  be  placed 
in  the  temple  wall.  We  do  nothing,  God  does  all. 
But  we  are  not  God's  slaves  ;  we  are  his  freemen. 
God  wants  men,  not  machines  and  automata. 

The  third  view  presents  a  certain  method  of  di- 
vine and  human  co-operation.  We  do  what  we  can 
to  help  ourselves,  and  when  our  natural  or  redeemed 
powers  reach  a  limit,  God  assumes  the  burden  at 


58  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

our  request.  The  longer  we  live  and  the  stronger 
we  grow  the  less  we  need  God's  interposition. 
Every  divine  rescue  is  practically  a  miracle,  since  it 
is  non-naturaL  God's  assistance  is  a  deus  ex 
machind  on  the  plan  of  the  Greek  tragedies,  where 
gods  always  appeared  when  the  plot  was  inex- 
tricably involved  and  human  ingenuity  and  re- 
sources hopelessly  at  loss.  The  great  defects  of 
such  a  view  are  that  every  divine  act  of  assistance 
renders  a  Christian  less  a  man,  and  as  the  penum- 
bra of  the  miraculous  is  regarded  as  God's  particu- 
lar domain  with  the  circle  ever  growing  smaller  with 
zero  as  a  limit,  faith  is  gradually  dispensed  with, 
and  the  religious  life  becomes  an  increasingly  self- 
sufficient  life. 

Is  there  a  fourth  view  of  the  religious  life  ?  See 
what  the  needed  elements  are.  One  is  that  of  the 
freedom  of  the  will.  Salvation  cannot  be  salva- 
tion if  it  makes  slaves  of  men,  for  the  highest  type 
of  the  Christian  is  that  of  the  noblest  freedman. 
Christ  said  :  '*  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also," 
that  is,  in  a  separate  and  a  worthful  existence. 
The  goal  for  which  I  am  striving  is  a  will  so  ethi- 
cized  as  to  choose  moral  ends  not  perforce,  but  of 
freedom  ;  and  yet  it  can  never  be  ethicized  unless 
every  good  act  is  an  expression  of  the  human  as 
well  as  the  divine  will. 

The  other  element  to  be  considered  is  that  of  the 
indwelling  Christ,  to  be  able  to  say  with  Luther : 
"  Jesus  Christ  lives  here  "  ;  or  with  Augustine  as 


MODERN  VERSUS  BIBLICAL  TYPE  59 

he  escapes  his  old  companion  :  "  I  run  because  I 
am  not  I  "  ;  or  Paul :  **  I  have  been  crucified  with 
Christ ;  and  it  is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me  :  and  that  life  which  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh  I  live  in  faith  "  (Gal.  2  :  20).  God  does  all  ; 
man  does  all.  Beyond  mere  fellowship  is  Christ's 
vital  union  with  the  individual  heart,  whereby  God's 
presence  gives  us  energy  to  realize  our  own  endeav- 
ors, not  by  enslaving,  but  by  enfranchising  the 
will,  invigorating  it,  energizing  it,  vitalizing  it,  until 
we  reach  the  truest  freedom  of  the  fulness  of 
God's  indwelling  ;  until  with  Augustine  we  can  say  : 
**We  will,  but  God  works  in  us  the  willing;  we 
work,  but  God  works  in  us  the  working."  Thus 
and  thus  only  shall  we  escape  the  failure  of  the 
Galatians  who,  having  begun  in  Spirit,  thought  to 
be  perfected  in  the  flesh.  Thus  and  thus  only  shall 
faith,  by  which  alone  we  render  available  to  our- 
selves the  motor  power  of  God,  be  more  and  more 
indispensable  through  life.  Will  is  not  an  instru- 
ment separate  from  ourselves  which  we  can  use  as 
we  will  ;  it  is  ourselves  acting.  God's  act,  therefore, 
cannot  be  our  act ;  and  if  will  and  personality  are 
to  be  free  while  at  the  same  time  God  aids  us,  it 
must  be  by  the  undercurrents  of  life  whose  sluice- 
way we  open  through  the  exercise  of  faith. 

Such  is  faith,  and  a  more  masculine  act  cannot 
be  conceived.  It  is  not  to  be  a  slave  that  God 
calls  man  to  himself,  but  to  exercise  his  will-power. 
Thus  the  modern  and   the  biblical  conceptions  of 


6o  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

the  Christian  life  do  not  agree.  The  one  is  pre- 
vailingly feminine  ;  the  other  is  both  masculine  and 
feminine.  It  will  be  no  easy  task  to  reintroduce 
the  masculine  ideal,  but  this  is  prerequisite  to  the 
rejuvenation  of  the  life  of  the  church.  It  will  come, 
but  not  until  the  Bible  is  better  understood  and  a 
true  philosophy  of  the  Christian  life  is  formulated. 


CHAPTER  VI 
SOME  PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION 

NOTHING  in  Christian  thought  needs  revision 
more  than  the  idea  of  the  supernatural.  It 
certainly  is  not  something  of  thought  or 
energy  which  is  appropriated  by  us  without  the 
natural  powers  of  mind  and  soul.  If  the  super- 
natural which  comes  to  us  is  not  also  natural,  there 
is  no  development  in  belief  or  character.  If  we 
understand  God's  revelation,  it  is  through  the 
powers  that  we  possess,  vitalized,  it  is  true,  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  If  the  growth  in  grace  is  from  the 
Spirit,  the  habits  are  our  own.  Religion  has  been 
regarded  far  too  much  as  an  intruder,  an  alien 
which  has  to  be  naturalized.  It  is  considered  to  be 
an  addition  to  life,  a  sort  of  hot-house  production, 
an  effusion  of  weak  natures,  as  Nitzsch  says,  a  de- 
formity, an  excrescence,  a  warping  of  nature,  instead 
of  being  only  a  certain  type  of  life,  and  that  the 
most  normal. 

Sometimes  this  idea  of  the  unnaturalness  of  the 
Christian  life  reaches  the  extreme  found  in  the 
society  of  Plymouth  Brethren  which  had  its  origin 
in  1827  and  received  its  name  from  Plymouth,  Eng- 
land, which  was  the  center  of  its  endeavors.    They 

61 


62  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

affirmed  that  every  child  of  God  had  two  natures, 
the  new  being  produced,  not  out  of,  but  in  addition 
to  the  old,  a  new  entity  ;  the  old  nature,  which  was 
once  the  self,  but  now  so  no  longer,  still  existing. 
The  new  nature  is  sinless,  but  the  old  nature  is  irre- 
claimably  bad  and  is  to  be  destroyed  at  death  or  at 
the  Lord's  second  coming.  According  to  this 
"shifting  of  selfhood,"  the  man  could  sin  and  still 
be  sinless,  for  the  act  could  be  imputed  to  the  old 
nature.  This  doctrine,  of  course,  is  both  bad 
psychology  and  bad  biblical  exegesis. 

On  the  other  side,  there  is  also  danger  of  making 
the  Christian  life  only  natural  and  including  in  the 
"  natural  "  the  excess  of  all  passions.  Edwin 
Checkley,  writing  on  "A  Natural  Way  of  Physical 
Training,"  says  that  the  significant  thing  in  connec- 
tion with  the  brute  creation  is  that  they  have  no 
athletics.  The  lion  keeps  his  marvelous  strength 
without  extraordinary  effort,  and  so  with  other 
beasts.  If  we  are  to  take  any  special  lesson  from 
the  lower  animals,  it  must  be  that  the  best  strength 
is  that  produced  by  natural  habits.  This  is  in 
general  true  of  the  body,  although  even  the  bodily 
structure  is  changed  by  mental  and  moral  habits. 
But  it  is  not  altogether  true  of  the  spiritual  nature. 
"  Natural  "  does  not,  therefore,  mean  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  instincts,  desires,  motives,  passions,  that 
first  make  themselves  felt.  We  have  in  human 
nature  that  hereditary  taint  which  reaches  back 
through   a   long    ancestral    line.      But    the   word 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX   IN  RELIGION       63 

"  natural  "  here  means  that  living  which  is  nor- 
mal and  best  fulfils  God's  ideal  for  us  as  he  has 
constituted  us. 

Man  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  God  (Gen.  5  : 
i),  and  Adam  in  turn  begat  a  son  in  his  own  like- 
ness (Gen.  5  :  3).  This  image  was  not  lost  in  the 
fall,  for  "whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man 
shall  his  blood  be  shed  :  for  in  the  image  of  God 
made  he  man."  That  image  meant  at  least,  will, 
intelligence,  affection,  personality,  moral  powers, 
including  the  power  of  knowing  God.  To  live  in 
accordance  with  the  image  of  God  implanted  within 
us  is  to  act  not  abnormally  but  normally  ;  it  is  to 
be  true  to  ourselves.  The  Christian  life  is  an  at- 
tempt to  restore  that  image,  the  second  creation 
fulfilling  the  first,  and  so  making  a  normal  man. 
Sin  is  an  intruder.  To  think  of  sin  as  natural  is  to 
lose  the  battle.  Hell  is  not  an  arbitrary  punish- 
ment of  God.  Animalism  is  not  the  original  dis- 
position of  man,  and  the  sinless  man  is  the  only  true 
man  that  the  world  knows. 

Christ  was  the  perfect  revelation  of  God  in  the 
only  substance  that  can  perfectly  represent  the 
divine,  the  human.  Christ's  human  life  must  not 
be  underestimated.  He  grew  physically,  mentally, 
spiritually,  fighting  temptations,  meeting  suffering, 
learning  obedience,  trusting,  praying,  the  perfect 
normal  man.  There  was  nothing  abnormal  about 
him.  Now  the  Christian  life  is  the  Christ  life.  The 
goal  for  each  believer  is  to  be  transformed  into  his 


64  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

image,  to  be  like  him,  to  be  a  full-grown  man  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Human  nature  was  capable  of  re- 
ceiving Christ  and  it  was  in  human  nature  that 
his  life  was  lived.  What  he  did  once  he  is  repeat- 
ing. There  is  a  reincarnation  for  all,  for  man  and 
God  are  kin.  This  is  why,  when  a  man  sees 
Christ,  he  finds  what  corresponds  to  the  best 
within  him. 

The  religious  life  has  been  far  too  narrow  and 
one-sided.  The  doctrine  of  God's  immanence  has 
not  permeated  Christian  belief  and  practice.  There 
are  supposed  to  be  two  kinds  of  life's  activities  :  first, 
the  so-called  religious,  Bible  reading,  praying,  attend- 
ing church  services,  and  doing  church  work  ;  second, 
family,  social,  business,  and  political  duties,  and  the 
pursuit  of  art,  literature,  and  science.  Here  are 
seemingly  opposing  interests.  Those  of  the  one  class 
seem  to  be  fostered  only  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 
How  shall  we  obtain  equilibrium  of  interest }  How 
shall  we  secure  unification  of  life  ? 

One  of  the  false  methods  is  to  banish  altogether 
the  worldly  interests,  forgetful  of  the  prayer  of 
Christ :  **  I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them 
out  of  the  world,  but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them 
from  the  evil  one."  This  was  one  of  the  methods 
of  classical  heathenism.  Antisthenes,  the  founder 
of  the  Cynics,  imitated  a  beggar  with  staff  and 
scrip,  so  as  to  avoid  all  of  those  desires  that  fetter, 
attempting  to  be  self-sufficient  and  independent  of 
everything — marriage,    society,    politics,    wealth, 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION       65 

honor,  enjoyment.  Such  was  the  false  conception 
of  the  true  life  presented  as  an  offset  to  the  culture 
of  the  day,  both  ideals  incomplete  and  one-sided. 
The  modern  heathenism  attempts  often  the  same 
goal.  The  rule  of  Buddhism  is,  *'  Having  abandoned 
these  things,  without  adopting  others,  let  men,  calm 
and  independent,  not  desire  existence,"  which  in- 
stead of  being  the  complete,  is  the  narrowest  possible 
life,  not  expansion  in  the  ocean  of  life,  but  the 
extinction  of  life  altogether. 

The  Christian  church  has  always  been  harassed 
with  the  same  solution  of  the  problem,  though  less 
to-day  than  formerly.  Basil  the  Great,  a  Greek 
father  of  the  fourth  century,  thought  that  the  only 
way  to  escape  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil, 
was  to  retire  to  a  retreat.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend, 
he  said,  however:  ''Although  I  have  left  behind 
me  the  diversions  of  the  city  as  a  cause  of  innu- 
merable evils,  I  have  not  been  able  to  leave  myself." 
Cowardice  is  a  poor  substitute  for  faith. 

To-day,  though  we  have  abandoned  the  hermit 
ideal,  we  often  think  of  these  other  interests  as 
necessary  evils  or  pleasant  diversions,  from  which 
heaven  will  at  last  set  us  free.  We  leave  both  in- 
terests in  suppressed  conflict  in  this  life,  establish- 
ing a  perplexing  dualism.  There  is  no  solution, 
but  only  a  compromise,  a  truce,  until  we  can  lay 
down  our  burdens  and  ask  the  Lord  to  forgive  us. 

This  dualism  is  expressed  chiefly  in  four  ways.  In 
regard  to  time,  we  declare  that  the  Sabbath  or  Sun- 
E 


66  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

day  is  a  holy  day  to  be  given  to  the  service  of  God, 
while  the  six  days  belong  to  us.  We  hear  many 
complaints  of  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath.  Per- 
haps the  chief  reason  is  that  we  have  too  much  of 
the  desecration  of  Monday.  Men  have  given  up 
largely  the  idea  that  there  is  a  magical  virtue  in  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  therefore  have 
chosen  to  observe  it  as  they  please.  We  have  not 
fully  learned  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man, 
not  man  for  the  Sabbath.  When  the  week  from 
Monday  to  Saturday  is  used  for  the  Lord,  there  will 
be  no  difficulty  with  the  proper  use  of  Sunday.  Our 
difficulty  is  that  we  have  failed  to  unify  our  life. 

The  same  mistake  is  noticeable  in  our  treatment 
of  the  church  building.  We  frequently  speak  of 
coming  into  the  presence  of  God  as  we  enter  the 
church  or  begin  a  service.  The  man  who  has  not 
been  in  the  presence  of  God  before  he  enters  the 
building  is  not  apt  to  enter  God's  presence  by  going 
into  a  building  simply  because  it  has  been  dedicated 
to  the  service  of  God.  We  are  much  accustomed 
to  apply  all  the  references  of  the  ancient  temple  to 
the  modern  church  building.  Yet  Christ  declared 
that  neither  in  Gerizim  nor  Jerusalem  should  men 
worship  the  Father.  Wherever  a  man  prays,  there 
is  his  temple.  The  grass  may  carpet  his  chancel, 
the  trees  be  the  columns,  the  sky  the  dome,  but 
there  is  his  cathedral  if  he  prays  in  spirit  and  truth. 
Paul  declares,  "Ye  are  the  temple  of  God."  Not 
the  church  building  as  such,  but  the  person  himself 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION       67 

is  the  abode  of  the  Shekinah  of  God,  and  all  places 
are  holy  places  to  the  Christian. 

The  same  mistake  is  made  in  regard  to  money. 
The  one-tenth  is  supposed  to  purchase  immunity 
for  the  nine-tenths.  But  all  money  belongs  to 
God,  and  evidently  the  money  spent  for  the  pur- 
chase of  food,  of  clothes,  of  enjoyment,  should  be 
expended  as  conscientiously  as  the  money  spent  for 
church  and  missionary  work. 

It  is  also  supposed,  though  less  and  less  so  to- 
day, that  the  sacredness  of  the  office  renders  the 
person  of  the  minister  especially  sacred.  Ministers 
seem  to  have  a  better  opportunity  of  living  the 
consecrated  life.  They  are  doing  nothing  but  re- 
ligious work,  and  do  not  seem  to  have  the  same 
problem  that  their  parishioners  have.  A  young 
man  asked  President  Stott,  of  Franklin  College, 
hidiana,  how  long  he  would  have  to  stay  in  college 
before  he  could  be  called  *' Reverend."  He  did 
not  recognize  that  the  title  did  not  make  the  man, 
nor  that  all  men  should  be  reverend.  All,  not  the 
ministers  alone,  are  called  to  be  kings  and  priests, 
and  all  are  to  be  witnesses  of  God.  The  words, 
**  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,"  were  given  not  only  to 
the  apostles  who  did  not  leave  Jerusalem  when  the 
first  persecution  drove  the  disciples  out,  but  to  all 
believers. 

The  object  of  living  is  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  that  kingdom  means  not  only 
the  reign  of  God  in  the  individual,  but  that  all 


68  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

relationships  of  life — family,  social,  industrial, 
political,  institutional,  ecclesiastical,  shall  also  be 
Christian.  When  God  spoke  to  Christ :  **  Thou 
art  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased," 
shall  we  not  say  that  he  referred  not  only  to  the 
act  of  obedience  in  being  baptized,  or  to  his  pre-in- 
carnate  resolution  to  come  to  earth,  but  to  his 
faithfulness  during  thirty  years  in  shop  and  home, 
carefully  performing  all  duties  ?  He  could  attend 
the  wedding  festivities  of  several  days'  duration, 
and  assist  in  furnishing  refreshments,  thereby 
manifesting  forth  his  glory.  Mary  was  not  praised 
merely  for  sitting  at  Jesus'  feet,  nor  Martha  blamed 
merely  for  working  in  the  kitchen.  Martha  needed 
a  unifying  principle  of  life.  Sitting  at  Jesus'  feet 
in  stated  prayer  may  not  always  be  right.  Even 
the  Joshua  who  prays  before  God  hears  the  not  al- 
together reassuring  words  :  "  Get  thee  up  ;  where- 
fore art  thou  thus  fallen  on  thy  face."  Action,  not 
words  of  prayer,  were  needed. 

Faith  can  be  used  in  business.  When  Christ 
was  awakened  by  the  fearful  disciples  his  first 
question  was  not,  **Why  did  you  not  row.?"  or, 
Why  did  you  venture  out  with  such  a  boat  ?  "  but 
"Where  is  your  faith?"  It  is  possible  to  obey 
such  commands  as  these:  ''And  whatsoever  ye 
do,  in  word  or  in  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  the  Father  through 
him"  (Col.  3  :  17)  ;  and,  "Whether  therefore  ye 
eat,  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION       6g 

glory  of  God  "  (i  Cor.  lo  :  31).  It  is  declared  in 
Exodus,  the  thirty-first  chapter,  that  the  workers 
in  metals  and  in  stone,  and  the  carvers  in  wood 
for  the  tabernacle,  worked  with  the  understand- 
ing and  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  and  Zechariah 
says  that  **in  that  day  "  the  words  **  Holy  to  the 
Lord  "  shall  be  found  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses 
in  the  streets  as  well  as  upon  the  miter  of  the  high 
priest,  and  the  pots  in  the  kitchens  at  Jerusalem 
shall  be  holy  unto  the  Lord. 

Prof.  E.  H.  Johnson,  in  **  The  Highest  Life,'* 
tells  of  a  boy  who  was  often  seen  to  withdraw  to 
his  closet  and  friends  took  it  for  granted  that  he 
was  very  pious.  Years  afterward,  it  turned  out 
that  the  boy  who  had  heard  that  the  Christian 
ought  to  be  much  in  prayer,  used  often  to  kneel 
down  in  a  dark  clothes-press,  half  smothered  by 
the  hanging  garments  and  agonize  before  God  be- 
cause he  could  not  enjoy  it.  A  few  years  rolled  by 
and  he  found  himself  away  from  home  and  at 
school.  The  old  problem  was  before  him  and  he 
wondered  how  he  could  truly  love  God  and  not 
spend  all  his  hours  in  reading  the  Bible  and  at 
prayer.  At  last  his  distress  became  unbearable 
and  he  told  the  head  master,  who  only  said  :  **  God 
does  not  wish  you  to  spend  all  your  time  reading 
the  Bible  and  praying.  He  has  placed  you  in 
school ;  he  wants  you  to  study."  And  the  young 
man  was  comforted.  He  had  only  learned  that  a 
man  can  reach  God  through  a  book,  through  man- 


70  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

Ual  labor,  through  social  intercourse,  as  through 
specific  prayer. 

As  God  is  in  his  world,  making  all  holy,  so  he  is 
also  in  man  himself,  making  every  faculty  divine. 
There  are  no  religious  compartments  of  the  mind 
divided  off  from  others.  The  faculties  by  which 
one  worships  God  on  Sundays  are  the  same  by 
which  the  daily  work  is  done  on  Mondays.  The 
spiritual  nature  is  simply  the  mind  devoted  to  spir- 
itual things.  Theosophy  makes  the  man  composed 
of  seven  parts,  one  only  of  which  is  the  spark  of 
Parabrahm,  and  therefore  divine.  One  modern 
view,  sometimes  definitely  stated,  generally  tacitly 
assumed,  is  that  through  the  instincts,  impulses, 
and  feelings,  we  become  aware  of  God. 

Porphyry  stated  that  during  the  six  years  which 
he  spent  in  intimate  companionship  with  Plotinus, 
the  latter  experienced  union  with  God  only  four 
times  ;  that  is,  communion  with  God  is  experienced 
only  in  such  ecstatic  and  emotional  absorptions  as 
Charles  Kingsley  so  vividly  described  in  Hypatia, 
whose  heroine  tries  by  the  subjection  of  self  to  be 
wafted  away  into  the  arms  of  Apollo.  Theoso- 
phy affirms  that  after  many  incarnations  human 
beings  at  last  "  enter  into  the  eternal  and  final  all, 
and  become  an  integral  part  of  the  great  abyss  of 
the  impersonality  called  God."  According  to  this, 
we  shall  become  most  divine  in  the  very  extinction 
of  that  divine  image  which  God  has  given  us  to 
develop. 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION       ^\ 

Buddhism  presents  a  similar  ideal  in  its  Nirvana, 
reached  by  the  eightfold  path — right  view,  right 
aspiration,  right  speech,  right  conduct,  right  liveli- 
hood, right  effort,  right  mindfulness,  right  rapture 
— until  the  ability  to  say  **  This  is  I"  and  "This 
is  mine  "  is  lost.  Against  all  this,  Christianity  says 
that  we  shall  be  in  the  fullest  possession  of  God,  not 
in  some  ecstatic  experience,  but  as  we  act  and  grow 
naturally  in  consonance  with  God's  will. 

We  meet  God,  we  are  coworkers  with  him,  we 
have  fellowship  with  him,  not  simply  through  the 
feelings,  but  through  the  will  and  intellect.  It  is 
not  only  when  we  have  love,  joy,  and  peace  that 
we  have  God,  but  when  we  are  studying  his  world 
or  putting  forth  energy  in  achievements.  The  man 
with  **  nervous  instability"  and  **  exalted  emo- 
tional sensibility  "  should  not  set  the  standard  for 
those  who  have  force  and  will-power,  keen  percep- 
tion, and  logical  powers.  A  gentleman  of  Peoria, 
111.,  told  the  author  that  when  he  was  a  boy  he 
came  home  to  his  stepmother  shaking  with  the  old- 
fashioned  fever  and  ague.  He  was  met  with 
**  Goodness,  have  you  got  religion  ?  "  The  person 
who  seldom  has  emotion  is  not  less  religious  than 
the  naturally  excitable.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  regularity  in  Christian  experience  is 
against  God's  personal  movement  in  our  lives,  any 
more  than  that  God  is  not  in  the  regular  laws  of 
nature.  It  makes  the  ordinary  life  atheistic  to 
recognize  God  only  in  the  emotions. 


72  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

A  man  cannot  be  forced  to  a  life  of  virtue.  We 
need  not  be  told  that  character  is  a  product  of  self- 
activity.  If  a  higher  type  is  therefore  to  be  pro- 
duced, the  self  must  be  active.  It  is  said  that 
hypnotism  weakens  the  will  of  the  hypnotized. 
Certain,  at  least,  that  which  another  forces  me  to 
do  is  not  my  own  act.  What  if  we  do  gain  great 
victories  over  the  enemy  and  endure  the  thorns  of 
life,  if  we  do  it  by  a  power  not  our  own  }  Not 
until  we  embody  our  deeds  in  ourselves  and  act 
from  an  inherent  power  sustained  by  God  have  we 
added  to  our  own  character.  It  is  not  how  much 
we  do,  but  how  much  we  become.  That  apple 
tree  may  be  beautiful  with  its  green  leaves  and 
perfectly  formed  fruit.  It  is  a  better  specimen 
than  one  ordinarily  sees  in  nature.  It  is  the  prod- 
uct of  skill,  for  it  is  manufactured,  from  the  painted 
bark  to  the  rosy-tinted  fruit.  Which  would  show 
God's  power  the  more,  to  set  up  sticks  for  trees 
and  glue  leaves  to  them,  or  for  God  to  be  im- 
manent in  the  tree  until  the  tree's  life  shall  obtain, 
as  it  were,  a  character  }  The  redness  of  the  rose  is 
not  superimposed  by  the  sun,  but  comes  from  the 
rose's  own  heart,  and  yet  the  redness  would  not  be 
inlaid  upon  its  petals  without  the  sun's  assistance. 
We  realize  our  fullest  life  by  supernatural  in- 
fluences, but  these  are  naturally  mediated. 

Faith  itself  is  concerned  more  with  the  intellect 
and  will  than  with  the  emotions.  Faith  is  the  as- 
sent of  the  intellect  and  the  consent  of  the  heart. 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION        73 

It  is  a  choice  made  upon  certain  probabilities.  The 
man  with  the  withered  hand  obeys  the  command 
and  raises  his  hand  and  by  this  exercise  of  the  will, 
new  strength  is  given  to  the  arm.  The  angel  came 
to  Gideon  with  the  salutation  :  **  Hail,  thou  mighty 
man  of  valor,"  and  yet  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Hebrews  includes  Gideon  with  the  heroes  of  faith. 
It  was  when  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon 
Gideon  that  he  blew  the  trumpet.  Faith  is 
courage. 

One  thing  more  can  be  said  about  this  normal 
human  life,  that  it  is  a  development  of  one's  own 
personality.  The  church  has  suffered  by  a  same- 
ness of  type,  and  all  are  supposed  to  start  the 
same,  feel  the  same,  think  the  same.  The  busi- 
ness of  the  church  ought  to  be  to  treat  every  con- 
vert as  a  gardener  treats  a  hybrid,  in  which  the 
plant  is  studied  at  every  stage  and  tested  with  vary- 
ing soils  and  climates.  We  are  traveling  heaven- 
ward, but  although  all  pictured  angels  look  alike,  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  heaven  will  not  be  a  dead  level 
of  eternal  sameness.  Regeneration,  or  the  com- 
munication of  a  new  life,  does  not  mean  that  the 
new  life  of  all  is  the  same  in  quality  and  quantity. 
Regeneration  is  the  "  origination  in  man  of  a  holy 
bias  or  disposition,  by  virtue  of  which  he  begins  to 
exercise  normally  all  his  spiritual  powers."  It  does 
not  change  his  personality  except  by  the  origination 
of  this  holy  bias  ;  and  those  personal  characteris- 
tics which  constitute  individuality  are,   as  far  as 


74  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

they  are  moral,  but  to  receive  a  new  impetus  by 
regeneration. 

Nature  is  our  instructor.  No  two  roses  are  alike  ; 
every  pansy  is  a  fresh  study.  Like  the  tree  which 
transforms  its  nutriment  into  the  oak  or  palm  by 
the  invisible  law  of  conformity  to  type,  so  a  person 
grows  as  he  incorporates  the  right  material  into  his 
nature.  The  kindergarten  has  started  the  educa- 
tional tendency,  but  now  everywhere  educators  are 
insisting  that  individuality  must  be  preserved.  In 
the  kindergarten  the  child's  nature  is  simply  guided 
and  obstructions  are  removed.  The  purpose  is  to 
develop  what  distinguishes  each  child,  every  song 
and  exercise  being  chosen  with  relation  to  this  pur- 
pose. Some  one  has  said  that  Plato,  Milton,  Ed- 
wards, Napoleon,  and  John  Howard,  possessed  to  a 
great  degree  the  faculty  of  imagination.  But  this, 
united  with  other  peculiar  powers  of  each  one's 
mind,  made  one  a  philosopher,  another  a  poet, 
another  a  theologian,  another  a  soldier,  and  another 
a  philanthropist. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  if  all  our  individu- 
alities are  to  have  a  distinct  development,  how  can 
we  all  reach  the  same  goal  of  being  like  Jesus  ? 
Dorner  beautifully  represents  humanity  by  a  gap- 
less  but  ever-growing  circle,  and  just  as  each  point 
in  the  circle  has  its  own  relationship  to  the  center, 
shared  by  no  other  point  in  the  whole  circumfer- 
ence, so  each  human  being  bears  a  different  rela- 
tionship to  God.      God  does  not  deal  with  us  as 


PRESUPPOSITIONS  OF  SEX  IN  RELIGION       75 

the  Israelites  supposed  that  Jehovah  dealt  with 
them  as  members  of  an  elect  race  and  not  as  dis- 
tinct persons.  Each  child  in  a  large  family  enters 
into  a  peculiar  relation  with  its  father.  So  each 
one  of  those  who  trust  in  Christ,  finds  something 
in  him  that  meets  his  own  specific  needs. 

Jesus  is  myriad-sided.  A  center  of  relationship 
is  to  be  found  in  him  for  all  of  the  mighty  circle  of 
humanity.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  George  Dana 
Boardman,  making  the  last  speech  at  the  Chicago 
Parliament  of  Religions  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is 
the  universal  Homo,  the  essential  Vir,  the  Son  of 
human  nature.  Blending  in  himself  all  races,  ages, 
sexes,  capacities,  temperaments,  Jesus  is  the  arche- 
typal man,  the  ideal  hero,  the  consummate  incar- 
nation, the  symbol  of  perfected  human  nature,  the 
sum  total  of  enfolded,  fulfilled  humanity,  the  Son 
of  mankind.  .  .  Zoroaster  was  a  Persian,  Confu- 
cius was  a  Chinaman,  Gautama  was  an  Indian, 
Mohammed  was  an  Arabian,  but  Jesus  is  the  Son 
of  man." 

Mere  imitation  destroys  individuality,  but  Christ's 
life  is  creative  of  a  new  spirit.  Not  homogeneity 
we  want,  but  variety  in  unity.  We  can  all  follow 
the  same  Christ,  but  preserve  what  we  are  as  far 
as  this  is  moral  and  human.  The  Christian  life  is 
not  a  self-effacement ;  it  is  an  affirmation  of  God 
in  the  life.  As  such  it  is  the  realization  of  the  true 
man  in  the  individual. 

The  bearing  of  the  ideas  of  this  chapter  on  the 


76  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

progress  of  thought  of  the  whole  book  is  manifest. 
The  man  as  well  as  the  woman  is  called  to  live  the 
Christian  life.  Yet  he  is  not  asked  to  be  excep- 
tional and  eccentric,  but  to  live  the  normal,  natural 
life  of  a  man.  He  is  not  adding  something  incon- 
gruous to  his  life,  but  is  restoring  his  life  to  the 
norm  according  to  which  he  was  originally  created. 
He  is  not  less  a  man,  but  more  of  a  man,  by  being 
a  Christian.  He  finds  that  however  busy  he  is, 
God  is  to  be  found  in  a  business  transaction  as  in 
prayer,  in  fact,  that  this  is  prayer  ;  and  in  creating 
and  in  achieving  he  is  coming  into  actual  fellowship 
with  God.  He  learns  that  all  places  are  holy,  all 
money  sacred,  all  men  divine,  and  all  men  God's. 
He  finds  too,  that  God  is  in  him  when  he  uses  his 
intellect  as  when  a  flood  of  emotions  pours  over  his 
soul.  He  becomes  aggressive,  knowing  that  God 
surcharges  his  will  with  energy.  He  exercises  his 
masculine  powers,  knowing  that  these  are  divine. 
He  does  not  belittle  his  personality,  but  believes 
that  there  is  a  place  for  him  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
He  finds  in  Christ  his  perennial  friend,  perfectly 
adapted  to  his  own  nature.  He  may  grant  to 
woman  that  intuition,  feeling,  and  aspiration  which 
give  her  a  certain  type  of  religion,  and  make  cer- 
tain religious  exercises  more  natural  to  her  ;  but  he 
believes  that  he  too  has  been  made  religious,  that 
he  too  can  come  near  to  God,  and  companionship 
with  Christ  can  come  in  thought  and  volition  as  in 
emotions. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MEN   AND  THE  CHURCH 

THE  questionnaire  method  is  often,  if  not  always, 
misleading.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  make 
the  examination  thorough  enough,  and  cer- 
tainly it  is  not  feasible  to  expect  exact  results  by  a 
compilation  of  statistics.  Oftentimes  the  very 
suggestion  that  a  correspondent  offers  is  the  answer 
all  would  make  if  they  were  sufficiently  self-ana- 
lytical, or  could  give  voice  to  the  unobserved  trend 
of  society.  Yet  answers  from  many  are  valuable 
as  they  show  the  development  of  public  opinion  ; 
and,  in  addition,  here  and  there,  the  conviction  of 
an  honest  mind  in  the  careful  consideration  of  a 
problem,  who  does  not  agree  with  the  majority. 

It  was  mainly  with  the  purpose  of  observing 
how  much  the  contention  of  this  book  had  reached 
the  consciousness  of  the  people,  thereby  offering  a 
proof  of  its  accuracy,  that  the  author,  in  three  dif- 
ferent pastorates  sent  out  a  series  of  questions, 
being  careful  to  secure  returns  from  professional, 
business,  and  workingmen,  part  of  whom  were 
church-members,  and  part  not.  Sometimes  the 
questions  were  sent  out  by  mail,  but  more  often 
were  delivered  personally.     In  each  case,  the  male 

77 


78  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

members  of  the  church  were  enlisted  in  the  can- 
vass. Hundreds  of  answers  were  received  in  each 
city  and  the  work  of  compilation  took  weeks. 
Scores  of  answers,  as  might  be  expected,  were 
practically  worthless.  Many  answers  were  only 
repetitions  in  a  different  form  of  the  questions,  and 
many  answers  were  only  begotten  of  surface  judg- 
ments. But,  on  the  whole,  the  correspondents 
showed  that  earnest  thought  had  been  given  to  the 
questions  presented.  Oftentimes  there  were  dozens 
of  men  who  practically  said  the  same  thing,  thus 
reinforcing  the  opinion. 

One  of  these  questions  was  this:  **Why  do 
more  women  than  men  belong  to  the  church  ?  " 
The  question  is  not  synonymous  with  that  much- 
mooted  question  as  to  why  more  women  than  men 
attend  church,  but  to  the  minds  of  most  men,  the 
question  was  a  similar  one.  By  some,  the  differ- 
ence noted  in  church-membership  was  thought  to 
be  due  to  the  different  training  which  women  have 
received  in  the  past.  "  I  do  not  believe  that  woman, 
had  she  been  in  the  past  subjected  to  the  same 
influences  as  man,  together  with  larger  educational 
advantages  and  means  of  developing  intellect, 
would  attend  church  as  freely  as  man." 

In  the  main,  however,  the  phenomenon  is  attrib- 
uted to  two  causes,  the  difference  of  environment 
and  the  difference  of  nature.  Concerning  environ- 
ment, man  feels — such  is  his  answer — that  his 
duties  are  so  confining  and  exacting,  and  that  he 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  79 

works  so  hard  both  mentally  and  bodily  in  order 
to  gain  the  necessities  of  life,  that  when  Sunday 
comes,  he  naturally  takes  it  as  a  day  of  rest, 
and  consequently  feels  no  inclination  to  continue 
his  labors  by  attending  church.  It  is  certain,  at 
least,  that  absence  from  church  generally  means 
freedom  from  church-membership,  because  the 
man  who  does  not  go  to  church  does  not  give  the 
church-worker  an  opportunity  to  bring  him  into 
the  church.  Even  if  he  does  become  a  church- 
member,  he  loses  the  help  of  church-fellowship 
by  his  absence. 

The  other  phase  of  environment  which  draws 
men  away  from  the  church,  is  the  contact  with  the 
world  of  temptation  to  which  a  woman  is  not  sub- 
ject. "  In  constant  public  associations,  I  believe 
men  are  more  exposed  to  the  sledge-hammer  blows 
of  the  adversary  and  more  men  go  down  under 
them."  These  temptations  are  sometimes  felt  in 
the  very  struggle  for  existence,  sometimes  in  the 
club  life  and  political  associations,  and  sometimes 
by  contact  with  more  open  forms  of  vice.  A  man  is 
generally  honest  enough  to  keep  out  of  the  church, 
even  though  his  open  excuse  is  different,  when  his 
conscience  disapproves  of  any  part  of  his  life. 

Many  men,  also,  take  note  of  the  difference  in  the 
early  training  of  boys  and  girls.  Whether  this  is 
itself  due  to  a  mental  difference  between  the  sexes, 
no  one  suggests.  But  '*  the  home  and  church  in- 
fluence does  not  extend  over  so  long  a  period  in 


80  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

boyhood,"  and  "  boys  are  allowed  to  run  at  liberty 
while  young  girls  are  cared  for."  "  The  street 
education  of  boys  prevents  naany  young  men  from 
becoming  Christians."  "  If  fathers  took  the  same 
care  of  their  sons  day  and  night  as  mothers  do  with 
their  daughters,  there  would  be  many  more  sons  in 
early  life  converted  to  God." 

By  far  the  larger  number,  however,  refer  the  dif- 
ference in  church-membership  between  the  man  and 
woman  to  natural  variation  of  mind  and  character, 
though  the  differences  stated  are  almost  multiform. 
Men  are  sure  that  women  both  love  and  want  to  be 
loved,  and  since  religion  is  concerned  most  with  love, 
women  are  religious.  "  The  church  is  the  casket  of 
God's  memorial  love."  There  are,  in  addition, 
many  more  characteristics  of  a  woman's  nature  pre- 
disposing her  to  the  church.  She  is  "  more  sym- 
pathetic," "more  impressible,"  "sentimental," 
"superstitious,"  "sensitive,"  "desires  to  talk  and 
hear  talk,"  and  one  deacon  writes  :  "  They  are  more 
inquisitive,  like  to  see  and  be  seen,  are  fond  of  dress, 
and  thus  are  attracted  to  the  places  where  ladies 
congregate  in  houses  of  worship,  and  are  thus 
brought  under  the  influence  of  religion." 

Men,  on  the  other  side,  are  less  emotional,  more 
intellectual,  philosophical,  and  therefore  skeptical. 
Yet  this  difference  in  mental  and  emotional  make- 
up may  be  an  indication  of  woman's  superiority. 
"Women  yield  more  readily  to  emotions  and 
promptings  that  are  of  deeper  birth  than  reason, 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  8l 

and  that  direct  the  reasoning  faculties.  They  do 
not  make  the  mistake  in  believing  only  that  which 
can  be  verified  by  demonstration  or  experience." 

A  clear  distinction  between  morality  and  religion 
is  not  made  by  every  observer,  and  yet  all  recog- 
nize that  the  moral  person  has  less  to  contend  with 
in  living  the  Christian  life.  Most  men  feel,  even 
though  they  know  that  a  man  is  subject  to  more 
temptations,  that  a  woman  is  naturally  more  moral 
than  man.  The  sense  of  duty  may  make  a  woman 
attend  church,  where  a  man  is  not  so  influenced. 
A  woman  more  naturally  inclines  toward  the  good 
and  pure.     On  this  point  one  writes  at  length  : 

A  sense  of  duty  rests  more  lightly  on  man  than  on  woman, 
and  consequently  if  men  are  to  be  attracted  to  church  it  must 
be  by  reason  of  interest  rather  than  duty,  and  the  interest,  of 
course,  must  be  of  that  nature  which  excites  their  attention. 
The  average  man  who  is  not  a  Christian  will  not  go  to  church 
unless  he  sees  practical  advantage  in  so  doing.  If  he  can  be 
made  to  see  that  his  condition  in  life  will  be  improved  by  giv- 
ing regard  to  spiritual  things,  he  will  attend  church.  Com- 
monly speaking,  he  looks  upon  spiritual  birth  or  growth  as 
something  not  at  all  essential  to  everyday  life,  acquaintance 
with  which  would  very  likely  trouble  his  conscience  and  afford 
no  return  for  his  mental  disturbance. 

Another  reason  why  a  man  is  not  interested  in 
the  church  is  because  the  church  does  not  present 
to  him  a  sufficiently  strong  motive  for  the  use  of 
his  energy.  Church  work  in  the  majority  of 
churches  is  not  mapped  out  on  sufficiently  broad 
lines  to  provide  work  for  boys  and  young  men,  and 
F 


82  THE  MASCULINE  IN   RELIGION 

especially  with  the  greatest  expression  outward 
toward  the  world,  and  not  inward  toward  the  mem- 
bers. Men  believe  in  the  practical  rather  than  the 
sentimental.  When  men  are  given  something 
worth  their  endeavor  to  undertake,  they  respond 
as  soldiers  to  the  call  of  battle. 

One  correspondent  thinks  that  if  the  preachers 
were  women,  the  present  condition  might  not  exist. 
**  It  is  woman's  nature  to  look  up  to,  be  influenced 
and  led  by  man."  One  man  has  the  courage  to 
tell  the  preachers  what  he  thinks  they  are  doing 
and  says :  **  The  pulpit  has  used  the  gospel  to  ap- 
peal to  the  weakness  of  the  race  rather  than  to  its 
manhood.  Women  and  children  are  susceptible  to 
emotional  appeals." 

Another  question  directed  to  the  men  was :  "What 
kind  of  a  sermon  do  men  like  ?  "  Natural  courtesy 
caused  this  question  many  times  to  be  unanswered. 
By  far  the  largest  number  emphasize  some  phase  of 
plain,  practical,  everyday  topics,  **  right  to  the 
point,"  "without  varnish,"  "sensible,"  "spoken 
to  the  hearers,  not  over  them,"  "simple  and  direct 
in  expression,  eliminating  all  preludes  and  inter- 
ludes," "short,  pithy,  and  to  the  point,"  "terse, 
lively,  anecdotal,  genial."  The  Golden  Rule  is  to 
be  presented,  and  selfishness,  which  is  at  the  bot- 
tom of  nearly  every  evil,  is  to  be  rooted  out.  The 
minister  is  to  preach  on  "  Life  :  how  to  live  ;  the 
art  of  living.  Character  :  its  formation  and 
growth  ;    its   perfection.     Truth:    its   beauty,   util- 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  83 

ity,  and  satisfactoriness.  The  sweetest,  purest, 
ennobling  thoughts  that  will  freshen  the  mind  and 
heart,  and  arouse  an  ambition  for  purer,  better 
lives  in  all  of  us."  The  sermons  should  be  '*  con- 
structive, positive,  helpful,  with  no  abuse  ;  that  do 
not  tell  them  how  bad  they  are,  but  of  what  they 
are  capable." 

Many  advise  ministers  to  leave  dogma  out  of  their 
sermons.  "  Dogmatism  is  the  mother  of  doubt." 
Yet  a  moderate  amount  of  theory  may  be  allowed, 
but  the  sermons  must  have  liberal  views,  be  free 
from  intellectual  density,  and  not  deal  with  secta- 
rian questions.  Some  distinctly  repudiate  both  the 
political  and  sensational  together  with  the  scien- 
tific sermon  ;  others  want  sermons  on  current 
topics.  All  insist  that  the  sermons  must  be  fresh 
and  up-to-date,  not  the  same  sermons  that  the 
minister  may  have  written  when  at  school  or  in 
former  years. 

It  may  be  readily  accepted  that  the  regular  an- 
swer of  the  earnest  church-member  is  that  he  de- 
sires religious  subjects  and  generally  with  little 
reference  to  secular  matters.  The  Bible  is  a  store- 
house of  sermon  subjects,  and  every  audience  likes 
to  hear  the  minister  "dig  out  the  meaning  of  the 
word  and  see  just  how  we  can  best  use  it  and  apply 
it  to-day."  Every  sermon  should  start  and  end 
with  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,  Christ,  who 
was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come. 

Such  is  man's  judgment  upon  his  own  relation- 


84  THE   MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

ship  to  the  church,  and  it  is  far  more  true  than  the 
correspondents  in  general  realized,  because  as  indi- 
viduals they  did  not  have  the  opportunity  of  com- 
paring answer  with  answer.  The  appeal  they  make 
is  for  a  masculine  religion  and  a  masculine  church 
service.  It  makes  little  difference  how  man  ought 
to  relate  himself  to  the  church  ;  the  fact  is,  he  does 
not  become  an  active  member,  and  the  reason  may 
be  in  his  environment  or  in  his  nature,  presumably 
both.  One  reason  indeed,  may  be  but  the  counter- 
part of  the  other.  If  a  man's  business  and  church 
mutually  exclude  each  other,  it  is  not  always  the 
fault  of  the  business.  Perhaps  religion  has  not 
been  made  broad  enough  to  include  the  business. 
Religion  has  demanded  church  attendance,  prayer, 
and  Bible  reading,  but  not  always  the  touch  of  God 
in  the  daily  vocation.  Bushnell  declared  that  what 
we  needed  to-day  was  the  Christianization  of  the 
money-power.  That  is  more  true  now  than  in  his 
day,  but  we  need  far  more  the  Christianization  of 
all  business.  It  is  possible  to  worship  God  in  a 
counting-room  and  praise  him  in  a  factory.  Re- 
ligion and  secular  work  must  not  be  divorced. 

Suppose  that  there  is  severe  temptation  ?  Do 
soldiers  want  only  a  demoralizing  fort-life  ?  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  wisely  said  in  regard  to  the  Spanish- 
American  war,  that  he  felt  that  a  heavier  load,  a 
considerably  heavier  load,  was  put  on  those  soldiers 
who  were  not  ordered  to  the  front ;  and  that  in 
some  promotions  in  the  regular  army,  he  promoted 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  85 

certain  men  who,  to  their  bitter  regret,  had  stayed 
in  office  work  instead  of  going,  as  they  so  desired,  to 
the  field.  Their  superiors  felt  that  damage  would 
come  to  the  interests  of  the  army  as  a  whole  if 
they  did  not  stay.  The  Japanese  won  the  admira- 
tion of  the  world  at  once  when  they  were  found 
willing  to  fight  and  even  die  if  need  be.  The  rec- 
ords of  Port  Arthur  will  go  down  in  history  be- 
cause men  dared  run  any  risk  for  their  country. 
Men  can  fight  if  they  are  called  to  fight  and  the  goal 
is  made  important  enough.  It  is  true  that  fathers 
have  been  derelict  in  regard  to  their  boys,  but  it  is 
quite  time  to  acknowledge  that  a  boy  can  play  as  a 
Christian,  study  as  a  Christian,  work  as  a  Chris- 
tian. When  his  chivalrous  nature  is  appealed  to, 
when  he  exerts  strength  for  right  and  contends  for 
justice,  when  he  is  bound  that  his  side  shall  win,  let 
him  know  that  these  are  as  much  Christian  impulses, 
or  impulses  that  can  be  turned  Christward,  as  the 
love,  trust,  and  passiveness  of  a  tamer  character. 

The  church  is  or  should  be  the  home  of  love  ; 
but  it  is  something  more.  It  is  a  factory  to  turn 
out  products  for  a  modern  civilization  ;  it  is  a 
laboratory  in  which  an  expert  examination  is  made 
of  soul  life  ;  it  is  an  arsenal  where  are  found  all 
sorts  of  armor  for  warfare  ;  it  is  a  foundry  where 
is  forged  the  armor  for  defense  ;  it  is  a  fort  from 
which  the  soldiers  sally  forth  to  victory.  Why 
should  the  church  life  be  known  only  by  its  mo- 
ments of  rest .?     Why  should  the  soft  playing  of 


86  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

**  Home,  Sweet  Home  "  be  thought  more  appropri- 
ate for  the  Christian  soldier  than  "  Rally  Round 
the  Flag  "  ?  Let  some  rugged  thought  be  presented, 
some  military  discipline  be  used,  some  martial  music 
be  played.  The  good  lover  is  the  good  hater,  and 
hate  means  opposition. 

There  are  needed  in  the  church  both  a  Christian 
thought  and  a  Christian  activity  expressive  of  its 
virility.  Oftentimes  more  is  expected  of  the  poor 
minister  than  he  really  can  perform.  One  sympa- 
thizes with  Richard  Fuller  as  he  says  :  "  I  do  more 
visiting  than  the  busiest  physician  in  my  town  ;  I 
do  more  public  speaking  than  a  lawyer  in  full  prac- 
tice, and  more  study  than  the  most  diligent  profes- 
sor ;  and  besides  am  at  the  beck  and  call  of  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  my  community,  whether 
they  have  a  claim  on  my  time  or  not."  Yet  it 
ought  to  be  granted  that  with  many  ministers  the 
same  amount  of  time  spent  in  downright  up-to-date 
thinking,  with  less  search  for  illustrations,  less  at- 
tempt at  adornment,  and  more  attention  to  simplic- 
ity and  perspicuity  would  give  better  results. 

When  Mr.  Edward  Bok  who,  ten  years  ago, 
sounded  such  a  blast  on  **  The  Young  Man  and  the 
Church,"  that  thousands  of  ministers  and  editors 
sprang  to  the  defense,  repeated  his  challenge  last 
year,  it  was  practically  with  the  same  arguments. 
The  young  men  themselves  complain,  according  to 
Mr.  Bok,  that  they  do  not  get  enough  out  of  the 
sermons  ;  they  are  all  theory,  words.     The  minis- 


MEN  AND  THE  CHURCH  87 

ter  doesn't  know  men,  and  gives  himself  too  much 
to  mere  cloister  study.  There  is  no  vitality  in  the 
service.  **  The  message  that  is  delivered  Sunday 
after  Sunday  from  the  average  pulpit  is  vapid  and 
meaningless  to  the  man  of  affairs  of  to-day."  All 
this  is  severe,  probably  too  much  so.  In  no  other 
place  but  a  school  would  there  congregate  a  body 
of  people  twice  or  more  a  week  throughout  a  year 
to  hear  the  same  speaker,  and  when  it  does  occur 
elsewhere,  it  is  only  with  a  small  select  gathering 
and  the  teacher  is  not  in  addition  a  visitor,  pastor, 
and  business  manager. 

Christ  did  not  preach  directly  on  either  politics 
or  industry.  He  refused  to  say  whether  tribute 
should  be  paid  to  Caesar ;  but  he  did  declare  at  the 
same  time  that  if  there  was  an  obligation  to  gov- 
ernment it  should  be  met.  He  would  not  be  a  judge 
over  an  estate  ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  warned  the 
plaintiff  of  covetousness.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  un- 
cover the  sefishness  and  greed  and  hypocrisy  of  the 
Pharisees  or  to  call  Herod  Antipas  a  fox.  He  could 
and  did  strike  at  dishonesty,  lust,  and  crime  without 
the  slightest  hesitation.  And  yet  he  was  masterful 
in  thought.  He  did  promulgate  dogma,  if  by  dogma 
we  understand  the  statement  of  truth  and  of  gen- 
eral principles  under  which  specific  instances  may 
be  classified.  He  was  a  thinker  and  an  educator, 
and  no  meaningless  sentences  ever  escaped  his  lips 
nor  a  statement  which  was  extraneous  or  contra- 
dictory to  his  complete  system  of  thought. 


88  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

Men  do  not  find  enough  to  do  in  the  church  of 
that  which  requires  skill  and  courage.  There  are 
too  many  trivialities  forced  upon  them,  too  many 
offices  whose  duties  are  mere  play.  There  is  too 
great  a  contrast  between  the  strenuous  business 
life  to  which  they  are  accustomed  and  the  lifeless 
committee  work  upon  petty  things  to  which  they  are 
invited.  Institutional  church  work  is  an  invaluable 
aid  to  the  church  in  winning  the  men.  Here  there 
is  a  recognition  of  the  whole  man,  of  his  desire  to 
achieve,  of  his  love  of  fellowship.  But  even  insti- 
tutional work  is  not  indispensable  to  success  among 
men.  A  church  service  where  strong,  manly  ser- 
mons are  preached  and  songs  sung  which  are  full  of 
vigor  and  vim  ;  a  Sunday-school  where  young  men 
are  aided  in  the  competition  of  thought ;  a  prayer- 
meeting  that  is  not  filled  with  platitudes  and  out- 
worn phrases ;  a  campaign  for  men  managed 
systematically  by  men  with  as  much  care  as  a  busi- 
ness canvass — these  are  the  means  of  making  a 
virile  church. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
MEN  AND  THE  LODGE 

TO  examine  a  man's  life  outside  of  the  church 
is  to  discover  his  needs  and  his  tendencies. 
Two  main  questions  in  the  series  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  chapter  were  made  to  cover  this 
field,  allowing  to  each  correspondent  the  freedom 
of  expression  as  new  ideas  were  suggested  to  him. 
The  first  question  was,  "  Why  do  many  men  prefer 
the  lodge  to  the  church?"  The  second  was,  *Ms 
it  difficult  for  a  professional,  business,  or  working 
man  to  live  a  Christian  life,  and  why.?  "  To  this 
was  added  a  third  question,  "  Other  things  being 
equal,  which  would  you  prefer  to  employ,  a  Chris- 
tian or  a  non-Christian?  "  To  the  two  main  ques- 
tions, at  least,  almost  every  man  approached  had  a 
ready  answer.  Whether  or  not  all  answers  were 
to  be  taken  seriously  matters  little,  providing  the 
men  were  sincere  in  their  answers,  and  the  author 
believes  that  they  were. 

In  regard  to  the  first  question,  "  Why  do  many 
men  prefer  the  lodge  to  the  church?  "  the  answers 
were  multiform.  Some  think  that  the  lodges  are 
not  well  patronized  except  on  banquet  nights ;  some, 
that  the  lodge  and  church  are  not  competitors,  as 

89 


90  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

each  has  its  own  field  ;  some,  that  the  best  lodge- 
members  are  the  best  church-members.  Many 
appeal  for  co-operation  on  the  ground  that  they  are 
practically  engaged  in  the  same  work.  The  lodge 
is  founded  upon  the  same  Bible  as  is  the  church, 
and  endeavors  to  carry  out  the  instructions  con- 
tained therein.  It  has  a  broad  field  in  which  to 
labor,  for  a  vast  proportion  of  the  membership  is 
without  the  pale  of  the  church.  Visiting  the  sick, 
relieving  the  distressed,  burying  the  dead,  and  edu- 
cating the  orphans,  is  an  imperative  duty  enjoined 
upon  the  lodges,  and  it  is  faithfully  carried  out. 
While  the  churches  may  be  willing  to  do  all  this,  it 
is  not  possible,  for  their  expenses  in  other  directions 
prevent  it. 

Some  answer  the  question  by  saying  that  the 
lodge  is  a  place  of  enjoyment  and  recreation,  and 
has  a  greater  variety  of  interests  than  the  church. 
The  greater  number,  however,  refer  to  some  ele- 
ment of  mutual  help  secured  in  the  lodge.  A  few 
plainly  declare  that  lodge-members  promise  to  favor 
fellow-members,  other  things  being  equal.  Gen- 
erally reference  is  made  to  the  assistance  given  in 
sickness,  either  by  a  sick  benefit  or  the  furnishing 
of  a  nurse  ;  and,  in  the  event  of  death,  a  death 
benefit  or  the  face  value  of  a  policy  paid  to  the 
family.  This  is  especially  to  be  commended,  be- 
cause members  receive  help  as  a  matter  of  right  and 
not  of  charity.  All  lodges  do  not  have  insurance 
features,  but  all  aim  to  relieve  a  brother  in  distress. 


MEN  AND  THE   LODGE  9! 

The  lodge  also  becomes  the  place  of  sociability 
and  fellowship,  so  whole-souled  that  many  men 
think  that  the  church  suffers  grievously  by  the 
comparison.  One  correspondent,  and  only  one, 
himself  a  lodge-member,  says  that  "friendship, 
fellowship,  or  charity,  which  must  be  held  together 
or  prompted  by  an  oath-bound  obligation  is  poor 
stuff  at  the  best  and  cold."  Many,  of  course, 
justify  the  difference  by  declaring  that  they  go  to 
church  for  religion. 

Many  prefer  the  lodge  because  it  gives  them  the 
freedom  and  opportunity  for  discussion.  At  church 
they  must  listen  to  the  preacher  without  the  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  in  either  questions  or  answers. 
Opportunity  is  afforded  in  the  lodge  for  discussing, 
and  hearing  intelligently  discussed,  topics  of  close 
interest  to  men,  both  in  a  business  and  a  social 
way.  The  topics  are  of  interest  to  them  for  the 
immediate  future,  while  at  church  they  are  taught 
to  look  into  an  indefinite  and  uncertain  future. 

Almost  every  lodge-member  also  feels  the  impor- 
tance of  position  and  the  gradation  of  offices  in  the 
lodge.  All  officers  are  elected  at  stated  intervals, 
and  each  member  has  the  chance  for  the  honors  of 
any  office.  Each  office  is  honored  with  sufficient 
dignity  and  responsibility  to  make  it  a  coveted  prize 
for  the  member.  In  the  church,  for  most  men,  there 
is  no  office,  and  they  are  expected  to  be  quiet  and 
receive  instruction  ;  or,  if  there  is  an  office,  it  is  of 
no  importance  and  burdened  with  trifling  duties. 


92  THE  MASCULINE   iN  RELIGION 

Many  thoughtful  men  discuss  the  lodges  from  the 
moral  and  religious  side,  and  frankly  say  that  they 
offer  to  their  members  a  real  moral  and  religious 
standard.  They  require  of  them  belief  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  and  many  emphasize  the  Bible  as  a  guide- 
book, and  all  make  prayer  an  important  part  of 
their  service.  Many  men,  generally  members  of 
no  lodge,  regard  the  lodge  as  anti-Christian,  if  not 
irreligious  ;  most,  however,  say  that  the  lodge  does 
not  assume  to  be  a  substitute  for  the  church. 
"When  this  is  true,  it  is  because  some  men  quiet 
their  conscience  with  respect  to  religious  duty  by 
substituting  relations  with  some  body,  membership 
with  which  usually  carries  with  it  a  sort  of  public 
certificate  of  morality  or  respectability."  "  Lodges 
and  fraternities  wear  a  large  moral  cloak.  The 
corner-stone  of  their  foundation  is  the  moral  law. 
The  freedom  of  the  interpretation  of  the  law  attracts 
and  the  morality  of  it  soothes  their  slumbering 
consciences."  "With  many,  lodges  are  looked 
upon  as  a  kind  of  respectable  support  against 
moral  weakness  ;  with  others  they  form  an  easy 
method  of  patronizing  morality  and  expressing  the 
liberty  to  recross  the  line  when  business  success 
demands  it,  while  the  moral  rule  of  the  church 
they  regard  as  inexorable."  "There  is  no  ques- 
tion asked  as  to  what  a  man  believes  or  does  not 
believe."  "A  lodge  imposes  no  dogma,  yet  is  made 
comprehensive  enough  to  satisfy  all  demands." 

In  every  reason  given  by  men  why  many  men 


MEN  AND  THE   LODGE  93 

prefer  the  lodge  to  the  church,  can  be  seen  a  cor- 
responding duty  of  the  church.  It  is  true  that  that 
organization  runs  the  risk  of  rapid  deterioration  that 
makes  pleasure  the  main  object ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  recreation  is  a  legitimate  expression  of  the 
religious  life.  It  is  scarcely  a  high  ideal  for  the 
church  to  say  that  since  people  will  secure  social 
recreation  anyway,  the  church  will  be  wise  in  fur- 
nishing it.  Rather  should  the  church  aim  to  see 
the  need  of  the  whole  man,  the  social  nature  as 
well,  and  then  by  the  social  life  within  the  church 
to  set  a  standard  for  all  social  life.  He  is  indeed  a 
melancholy  example  of  the  human  race,  as  F. 
Hopkinson  Smith  says,  who,  as  a  highly  successful 
American  business  man,  opens  his  daily  life  with 
his  office  key  and  closes  it  with  a  letter  for  the  late 
mail.  The  church  must  not  admit  enjoyment  as  a 
makeshift  to  win  support,  but  must  see  that  Christ 
can  be  served  at  the  proper  time  in  a  church  social 
or  a  young  men's  game-room  as  at  a  prayer-meet- 
ing. Men  of  business  need  and  should  have  pleas- 
ure and  recreation,  and  the  lodge  should  not  need 
to  supplant  the  church  as  far  as  legitimate  amuse- 
ment is  concerned. 

A  larger  recognition  of  the  need  of  mutual  help 
should  certainly  be  given  in  the  church.  However, 
the  special  pleader  for  the  lodge  must  not  forget 
that  every  lodge-member  pays  for  what  he  receives. 
Every  church,  in  a  quiet,  unostentatious  way,  is 
helping  many,  and  in  the  large  city  congregations, 


94  THE  MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

is  paying  out  thousands  of  dollars  a  year  for  char- 
ity, while  being  at  the  same  time  the  prey  of  every 
indigent  person  in  the  community.  The  man  who 
is  in  health,  and  who  is  a  good  citizen  in  the  com- 
munity, is  the  only  one  in  general  who  is  admitted 
to  the  lodge.  Let  him  cease  paying  his  dues,  unless 
he  is  sick  or  in  some  severe  reverse,  and  his  claim 
to  benefits  also  ceases  at  once.  The  church  is  a 
public  crib  for  all  philanthropic,  charitable,  and 
missionary  organizations,  and  thousands  of  church- 
members  give  money  freely  with  sacrifice,  only  to 
be  publicly  criticized  for  their  generosity.  Still,  it 
must  be  said  again,  church-members  should  more 
clearly  recognize  the  need  of  mutual  help,  and 
thus  make  the  prospective  member  feel  that  if  once 
he  enters  the  church  there  are  many  to  stand  by 
him  and  help  him  to  a  strong,  manly  life. 

The  church  is  under  a  great  disadvantage  in  the 
matter  of  sociability.  Each  member  feels  that  he 
is  not  a  representative  church-member  and  has  no 
right  to  take  the  initiative  in  a  large  congregation. 
Visitors  are  coming  and  going,  and  he  knows  not 
always  who  are  members.  Even  if  he  does,  he 
does  not  want  to  be  officious.  A  lodge  is  different. 
The  crowd  is  never  present  except  at  the  occasional 
open  meeting,  and  then  by  special  invitation.  The 
thirty  or  forty  at  the  usual  business  meeting  know 
one  another  well.  There  are  no  subsidiary  organ- 
izations meeting  at  different  occasions,  the  members 
of  which  are  unacquainted  with  each  other.     Still, 


MEN  AND  THE  LODGE  95 

the  church  is  not  all  that  it  should  be.  Men  need 
fellowship.  They  expect  it  in  the  church.  Men 
go  in  droves,  and  somewhere  in  the  church  whose 
work  is  adapted  to  men  there  should  be  an  oppor- 
tunity among  men  for  the  expression  of  good  fel- 
lowship. Something  like  the  reputed  coat  of  arms 
of  Thomas  Hood  should  hang  up  over  every  church 
door — a  hand,  and  underneath  the  words,  **  When 
taken,  to  be  well  shaken." 

A  man  loves  to  discuss  questions  of  interest.  He 
is  not  ready,  not  at  least  in  America,  to  accept  re- 
ligious any  more  than  he  is  political  opinions  ready- 
made.  There  are  certain  channels  in  which  church 
thought  must  stay,  and  oftentimes  it  becomes  stag- 
nant and  lifeless  by  its  very  sluggishness.  A  man 
should  be  given  a  large  share  in  the  interpretation 
of  truth  and  its  application  to  life,  and  not  be  looked 
upon  with  manifest  disquietude  because  his  views 
are  original.  He  should  be  heard  in  the  public 
meetings  of  the  church,  and  opportunity  be  given 
to  the  young  business  man  to  test  his  theory  by 
actual  experiment.  There  should  be  given  him  in 
separate  organizations  an  opportunity  to  discuss  all 
the  great  moral  and  religious  questions  which  affect 
the  welfare  of  church  and  society. 

Men  want  to  do  something.  The  church  offices 
seem  to  be  few  and  oftentimes  these  are  monopo- 
lized. The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
with  its  committee  work,  has  created  positions  for 
men,  all  bearing  responsibility.     A  church  should 


q6  the  masculine  in  religion 

be  organized  like  a  business  establishment,  with  a 
gradation  of  office  and  a  placing  of  responsibility, 
allowing  to  each  a  certain  initiative  for  the  sake 
of  fresh  plans.  Give  the  men  something  large 
enough  and  important  enough,  and  they  will  do 
it.  It  belittles  their  manhood  to  make  them  turn 
from  some  weighty  business  transaction  to  a  petty 
religious  affair. 

By  far  the  most  serious  question  concerning  the 
lodge  is  its  relationship  to  religion.  It  is  not  an  ob- 
jection to  the  lodge  that  it  does  not  teach  the  Trinity, 
any  more  than  it  is  an  objection  against  the  public 
school.  The  Bible  passage,  "  Be  not  unequally 
yoked  together  with  unbelievers,"  applies  no  more 
to  the  lodge  than  it  does  to  a  business  concern 
where  a  Christian  is  employed  by  a  non-Christian. 
If  the  lodge  becomes  a  real  rival  to  the  church,  it 
does  it  in  one  of  three  ways :  First,  the  lodge  may 
give  the  suggestion  that  salvation  depends  upon 
good  works.  It  teaches  a  high  grade  of  morality, 
the  statics  but  not  the  dynamics  of  life.  The 
thought  may  be  in  many  a  member's  mind,  **  This 
do,  and  thou  shalt  live,"  which  is  a  repetition  of  the 
legality  repudiated  by  Paul. 

Secondly,  the  lodge  with  its  ritual  and  rules  may 
be  thought  to  satisfy  all  the  wants  of  the  soul,  and 
especially  in  the  need  of  worship.  This  claim  has 
been  made,  and  more  than  once.  Thirdly,  there  is 
the  explicit  teaching  that  oftentimes  justifies  the 
assumption  that  membership  in  a  lodge  is  a  sure 


MEN  AND  THE   LODGE  97 

guarantee  of  membership  in  the  grand  lodge  above. 
The  burial  service  of  every  lodge  assumes  as  a 
matter  of  course  a  safe  entrance  on  the  part  of  the 
deceased  into  the  abode  of  happiness  and  peace 
irrespective  of  his  relationship  to  Christ.  It  is  a 
delicate  matter  to  treat,  and  every  minister  knows 
that  at  times,  even  on  the  ground  of  silence  if  no 
other,  he  is  subject  to  the  same  criticism  as  he  con- 
ducts the  funeral  service  of  a  moral  non-Christian. 

The  religious  element  of  the  lodge,  so  universally 
conceded  an  important  place  in  prayer,  ritual,  burial 
service,  and  the  necessity  of  believing  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  at  least  refutes  the  assumption  that  man 
does  not  care  for  religion.  His  religion  may  be  un- 
trammeled  by  minute  particularizations  of  thought, 
but  he  wants  a  God  above  whose  providential  acts 
can  be  depended  upon.  He  wants  some  form  of 
worship  which,  without  too  great  limitation,  can  be 
the  medium  of  his  approach  to  God.  He  wants  a 
prayer  that  not  only  is  a  mode  of  fellowship  with 
God,  but  a  method  of  appeal  for  help.  He  may  be 
engaged  in  a  desperate  struggle  for  existence,  but 
he  does  not  consign  in  thought  the  soul  of  a  fellow- 
traveler  to  the  dust,  but  wants  a  continuation  of 
the  best  of  earth's  fellowship  in  a  better  and  hap- 
pier abode  above. 

This  survey  of  the  attractions  and  advantages 

of  the  lodge  shows  that  in  all  essential  particulars 

the  church  can  satisfy  the  legitimate  demands  of  a 

man's  religious  nature.     If  there  is  any  doubt  any- 

G 


98  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

where  about  its  ability  to  do  so,  it  is  in  the  depart- 
ment of  mutual  help.  Insurance  is  not  an  essen- 
tial feature  of  a  lodge,  nor  could  it  be  introduced 
with  profit  into  the  church  organization  ;  but  in  both 
a  better  spirit  of  helpfulness  and  a  more  practical 
way  of  manifesting  such  a  spirit,  could  be  gained. 
The  disciples  were  not  only  sent  out  to  preach  the 
gospel,  but  to  heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers, 
raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils.  Christ  was  anointed 
not  only  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  but  to 
heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to 
the  captives,  the  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to 
set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised  ;  and  John  de- 
clares that  we  too  are  the  anointed  ones,  and  so  our 
service  cannot  be  far  different  from  Christ's. 

Christ's  miracles  were  proofs  of  his  power,  and 
authenticated  him  as  a  messenger  of  truth,  but  this 
was  not  the  main  reason  for  their  display.  They 
were  also  "  acted  parables,"  **  signs  "  of  a  spiritual 
power  and  a  spiritual  effect ;  but  this  was  not  the 
chief  reason  that  they  were  enacted.  Primarily, 
they  were  the  natural  expression  of  Christ's  com- 
passion for  a  suffering  humanity.  He  who  could 
perform  miracles  in  case  of  need,  and  did  not,  cer- 
tainly did  not  love.  We  may  not  be  able  to  perform 
miracles,  but  the  same  spirit  may  be  in  us,  and  there 
is  the  same  need  as  of  yore.  *'  Pure  religion  and 
undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father  is  this,  to  visit 
the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to 
keep  one's  self  unspotted  from  the  world." 


MEN  AND  THE  LODGE  99 

If  the  lodge  satisfies  men,  the  church  can  do  it. 
It  can  be  a  home  of  enjoyment,  a  means  of  fellow- 
ship and  sociability,  a  place  of  activity,  discussion, 
and  responsibility,  a  satisfaction  to  the  religious 
nature,  far  better  than  the  lodge.  In  addition  it 
has  the  advantage  of  being  the  very  organization 
founded  by  Christ  himself ;  that  organization  which, 
with  the  family  and  nation,  is  a  main  agency  for 
bringing  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Let  the  church 
and  men  tie  to  each  other.  They  need  each  other, 
and  Christ  needs  both. 


CHAPTER    IX 

MEN  AND  BUSINESS 

"TS  it  difficult  for  the  professional,  business,  or 
I  working  man  to  live  a  Cliristian  life,  and 
why  ?  "  Such  was  a  second  question  sent 
out  to  the  various  correspondents.  There  is  an 
advantage  in  answering  this  question,  partly  be- 
cause it  shows  what  kind  of  a  religion  a  man  needs, 
and  partly  because  it  reveals  the  chasm  in  most 
men's  minds  between  business  and  the  customary 
display  of  the  religious  life.  The  men  who  declare 
that  **  religion  has  no  place  in  a  man's  business  ; 
sterling  integrity  and  honor  there,"  have  too 
strictly  separated  not  only  morality  and  religion, 
but  the  religion  of  the  church  and  the  religion  of 
business. 

Many  men  do  not  find  that  it  is  more  difficult  for 
business  men  to  live  a  Christian  life  than  any  other 
class  of  persons.  "When  we  would  do  good,  evil 
is  always  present."  Dozens  of  men,  however, 
frankly  say,  **  Yes  "  ;  but  the  reason  stated  varies 
with  the  personality  of  the  writer  and  the  hardships 
of  his  business.  Many  men  at  least  write,  even 
though  they  do  not  practise  the  rule,  that  they 
**  must  get  the  best  of  the  other  fellow  and  do  it 
loo 


MEN  AND  BUSINESS  lOI 

first.'*  In  some  lines  of  business  "I  believe  it  is 
practically  impossible  to  lead  a  Christian  life  and 
make  a  success  of  business."  "  Competition  is 
fierce  ;  profits  are  small  ;  associates  cheat  as  well 
as  competitors."  "  The  real  Christian  falls  an  easy 
prey  to  myriad  sharks."  **  To  associate  with  non- 
Christians  makes  the  temptation  to  meet  them  with 
their  own  weapons."  The  condition,  to  the  minds 
of  many,  is  not  complimentary  to  a  large  per  cent. 
of  the  Christian  people  who  have  dealings  with 
business  men.  "  Many  church  people  are  unwilling 
to  give  a  business  man  a  fair  chance  to  make  a 
profit,  and  are  too  close  in  their  bargains." 

Outside  of  temptation  to  yield  to  dishonesty, 
many  see  that  the  Christian's  heart  is  hardened 
by  business.  "  It  is  my  experience  that  it  would 
not  be  difficult  for  a  man  to  lead  a  Christian  life  if 
the  Golden  Rule — *  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  be 
done  by  ' — were  universally  observed  ;  as  it  is  very 
hard  to  be  charitable  toward  a  person  whom  you 
know  is  scheming  and  planning  to  take  an  unfair 
advantage  of  you  at  every  turn,  and  that  is  some- 
thing every  business  man  in  New  York  has  to  con- 
tend with." 

Another  says  that  "  Contact  with  the  business 
world  deadens  their  spirituality  and  dims  the  vision 
of  Christ,  and  too  honest  to  play  the  hypocrite, 
and  too  grasping  and  near-sighted  to  make  the 
sacrifices,  they  prefer  to  remain  without."  A  man 
too,  if  he  succeeds  against  the  heavy  competition 


102  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

of  to-day,  must  devote  his  whole  time,  energy, 
thought,  and  effort  to  that  business.  Success 
brings  men  into  contact  with  the  outside  world, 
with  men  struggling  like  themselves,  with  thoughts 
like  their  thoughts,  and  in  time  the  average  man, 
unconsciously  perhaps,  takes  for  his  motto,  **  Suf- 
ficient unto  the  day  (this  life)  is  the  evil  (or  good) 
thereof."  He  forms  a  habit  early,  and  that  habit 
grows  stronger  as  he  grows  older,  until  he  forgets 
or  at  least  puts  off  the  idea  of  its  being  his  duty  to 
think  and  study  the  questions  relating  to  his  Maker 
and  his  fellow-men. 

The  working-man,  also,  has  his  difficulties  in  living 
a  Christian  life.  Sometimes  it  is  unscrupulous  em- 
ployers who  make  it  difficult ;  sometimes  it  is  be- 
cause he  does  not  find  himself  welcome  in  the 
church  ;  sometimes  it  is  because  he  has  no  time 
for  anything  but  his  machine.  One  may  feel 
thankful  that  the  question  of  dishonesty  does  not 
here  seem  to  form  an  important  difficulty,  for  none 
of  the  correspondents  mention  this  temptation, 
although  several  speak  of  the  profane  language 
which  many  working-men  must  constantly  hear. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  there  is  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  working-men  as  well  as  the  business 
men  to  get  something  for  nothing. 

Scores,  on  the  other  side,  say  emphatically,  "  No, 
it  is  not  diificult  for  a  professional,  business,  or 
working-man  to  live  a  Christian  life,"  although 
generally  the  answer  is  made  with  some  qualifica- 


MEN  AND  BUSINESS  IO3 

tion.  *'  The  Christian  people  in  their  business 
relations  do  show  their  appreciation  of  the  upright 
man."  "It  is,  but  that  difficulty  lessens  as  one 
grows  in  the  Christian  life  and  learns  the  fact, 
hard  indeed  to  learn,  that  the  capital  of  strict  un- 
swerving Christian  integrity,  known  to  be  such, 
pays  in  the  aggregate  better  and  surer  for  this 
world  and  the  next."  "It  is  the  nominal  Chris- 
tian who  gets  into  hot  water  all  the  time."  "  It  is 
difficult  because  of  the  failure  of  most  men  to  real- 
ize that  steady,  honest  solidity  of  purpose  is  con- 
ducive to  peace  of  mind  ;  that  a  life  harassed  by 
the  fear  of  being  found  out,  is  intensest  misery  ; 
that  one  may  not  be  dishonest  because  his  neigh- 
bor is  ;  that  pure  happiness  is  only  attained  by 
pure  thoughts,  upright  conduct,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  living  in  every  way  a  clean  life." 

To  the  subsidiary  question  asked,  "  Which  would 
you  prefer  to  employ,  other  things  being  equal,  a 
Christian  or  a  non-Christian  ?  "  as  might  have 
been  expected,  most  of  the  answers  were  in  favor 
of  the  Christian  employee.  Perhaps  the  excep- 
tions, for  this  reason,  are  the  more  worthy  of 
consideration  as  implying  independent  thought. 
**  Does  the  Christian  here  mean  the  church-mem- 
ber, or  one  who  is  like  Christ  ?  The  two  terms 
are  certainly  not  synonymous.  A  man  of  sense, 
honor,  and  correctness  of  habit,  should  certainly 
make  the  best  employee." 

A  unique  answer  is  the  one  made  by  an  employer 


104  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

in  a  large  factory,  who  says  he  prefers  non-Chris- 
tians, "  because  they  are  generally  of  greater  force 
of  character ;  they  do  not  lose  sight  of  earthly 
duties  by  keeping  their  minds  fixed  on  the  future 
life.  I  find  more  charity  among  non-Christians 
than  among  the  so-called  Christians."  It  is  also 
an  employer  who  says,  **  It  should  be  an  easy 
matter  for  a  working-man  to  lead  a  Christian  life. 
He  goes  in  the  morning  to  his  work,  performs  it 
carefully,  and  returns  to  his  family  to  spend  a 
pleasant  evening  free  from  care.  He  should  read 
the  life  of  Jesus  who  placed  his  divine  approval  on 
honest  labor."  Most  working-men  probably  do  not 
find  their  life  quite  so  roseate. 

These  difficulties  which  seem  to  prevent  many 
men  from  becoming  and  being  Christians,  only 
reveal  again  the  need  of  a  masculine  type  of  re- 
ligion for  all  business,  professional,  and  working- 
men.  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  simply  to  be  a 
church-member,  though  all  Christians  will  seek  to 
connect  themselves  with  other  Christians  ;  nor  is  it 
to  accept  so  many  doctrines,  though  there  will  be 
right  belief  as  well  as  right  conduct ;  nor  is  it 
simply  to  attend  religious  meetings,  engaging  in 
the  services  according  to  one's  ability,  although 
this  will  be  one  phase  of  the  Christian  life.  The 
man  must  prepare  himself  for  a  battle,  and  that 
battle  in  behalf  of  the  noblest  principles.  The 
Christian  life  includes  right  conduct — honesty,  in- 
tegrity, purity,  charity.     We  are  not  compelled  to 


MEN  AND  BUSINESS  105 

live.  Man  need  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  he 
should  live  by  every  word  that  proceeds  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God.  We  must  have  eternal  life  ;  it  is 
not  necessary  to  have  temporal  life.  A  man  needs 
the  bread  of  life,  but  he  can  spare  the  earthly 
bread.  Will  he  have  to  die  }  Let  him  die.  A 
few  deaths  for  religious  principles  would  be  the 
seed  for  hundreds  of  new  converts.  Men  do  not 
shirk  sacrifice  in  behalf  of  great  ideas.  Let  us 
have  a  masculine  religion. 

That  a  healthful  business  world  demands  honesty 
does  not  belong  to  Christianity  as  such.  Every 
man's  conscience,  Christian  or  not,  makes  for  up- 
rightness. That  it  is  hard  to  be  honest  is  not  an 
objection  against  the  Christian  Wfe  per  se.  If  Christ 
had  never  come,  if  the  church  did  not  exist,  there 
would  still  be  some  requirements  of  honesty.  To 
be  a  true  man  needs  courage,  and  to  have  courage 
is  to  be  masculine.  It  is  no  objection  to  Chris- 
tianity that  it  demands  righteousness  ;  rather  does 
it  aid  a  man  by  not  only  presenting  a  high  ideal, 
but  giving  him  power  to  reach  that  ideal.  If  the 
man  has  made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  man,  and  noth- 
ing but  a  man,  the  Christian  life  is  the  easiest  way 
of  realizing  his  ambition. 

There  is  also  to  be  considered  that  other  reason 
that  makes  it  difficult  for  the  man  of  the  world  to 
live  a  Christian  life,  and  that  is,  that  business  is 
too  absorbing.  A  man's  work  forms  for  him  a 
certain    mood.      The    big    realities    of    '*  money, 


I06  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

notoriety,  and  pain "  are  before  him.  There  is 
no  opportunity  for  introspection  and  meditation. 
Faith,  as  the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  a  con- 
viction of  things  not  seen,  seems  least  possible  in 
the  midst  of  the  real  world  of  stocks  and  bonds, 
personal  and  real  property,  store  and  office,  factory 
and  farm. 

Absorption  in  business  !  May  not  a  man  be 
completely  absorbed  in  business  and  still  be  the 
most  consistent  Christian  ?  What  in  point  of  fact 
is  the  essence  of  religion  that  a  man  should  decide 
that  absorption  in  business  and  a  Christian  faith 
are  incompatible  ?  The  Christian's  faith  is  con- 
cerned with  all  daily  activity  whether  it  seems  to 
have  a  moral  quality  or  not.  A  man's  vocation  is 
the  field  of  Christian  activity. 

In  laborer's  ballad  oft  more  piety 
God  finds  than  in  Te  Deum's  melody. 

The  new  Jerusalem  is  coming  down  out  of 
heaven,  and  it  is  the  Christian's  privilege  of  mak- 
ing a  new  Jerusalem  out  of  London,  or  Paris,  or 
New  York.  Phillips  Brooks  well  declared  that  the 
effective  and  the  receptive  life  are  one. 

Business  is  the  natural  expression  of  religion. 
It  is  as  natural  to  be  religious  as  it  is  to  breathe. 
To  leave  Christ  out  of  a  man's  soul  is  like  living 
with  a  weak  heart.  It  should  seem  to  us  absurd 
that  a  man  should  say  that  he  has  no  time  for  re- 
ligion.    *'It  is  as  if  the  engine  had  said  it  had  no 


MEN  AND  BUSINESS  IO7 

room  for  steam.  It  is  as  if  the  tree  had  said  it  had 
no  room  for  the  sap.  It  is  as  if  the  ocean  had  said 
that  it  had  no  room  for  the  tide.  It  is  as  if  the 
man  said  he  had  no  room  for  his  soul.  It  is  as  if 
life  said  that  it  had  no  time  to  live,  when  it  is  life. 
It  is  not  something  that  is  added  to  life,  it  is  life. 
.  .  .  Life  is  the  thing  we  seek,  and  man  finds  it  in 
the  fulfilment  of  his  life  by  Jesus  Christ." 

How  we  have  abused  that  word  ''world."  We 
have  made  it  synonymous  with  three  or  four  great 
public  amusements  and  supposed  that  we  were  far 
away  from  the  world  because  we  did  not  care  for 
any  of  them.  The  world  is  "the  aggregate  of 
things  earthly  ;  the  whole  circle  of  earthly  goods, 
endowments,  riches,  advantages,  pleasures,  etc., 
which  although  hollow,  frail,  and  fleeting,  stir  de- 
sire, seduce  from  God,  and  are  obstacles  to  the 
cause  of  Christ."  To  this  world,  which  is  to  pass 
away,  we  must  be  crucified.  Yet  it  is  possible, 
and  in  fact  our  duty,  to  use  the  world,  though  not 
to  use  it  to  the  full,  for  the  fashion  of  this  world 
passes  away. 

Let  the  man  state  his  Christian  life  in  business 
in  the  threefold  biblical  way.  First,  let  it  be  stated 
in  terms  of  God's  will.  Christ  said  :  '*  Lo,  I  come, 
to  do  thy  will,  O  God."  In  Samaria  he  told  his 
disciples  that  his  meat  was  to  do  the  will  of  his 
Father,  seemingly  remembering  that  bitter  experi- 
ence of  only  nine  months  before,  when  he  said  to 
Satan:   "Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 


I08  THE  MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God."  We  are  to  seek  first  the  kuigdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness.  "If  my  right  hand 
slacked,"  said  Antonio  Stradivari,  *M  should  rob 
God ;  for  while  God  is  fullest  good,  he  cannot 
make  the  violins  of  Antonio  Stradivari  without 
Antonio." 

The  Christian  life  can  also  be  stated  in  terms  of 
Christ's  life.  "As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  so 
send  I  you,"  gives  us  the  same  mission  as  that  of 
Jesus.  We  are  told  to  follow  him,  and  he  prayed, 
not  because  he  was  trying  to  give  us  an  example, 
but  because  he  needed  to  pray  ;  he  cast  out  demons 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  we  also  must.  Christ 
found  that  he  could  be  well-pleasing  to  the  Father 
and  work  at  a  carpenter's  bench  to  earn  a  liveli- 
hood for  himself  and  his  family,  and  during  the 
same  days  to  increase  in  favor  with  God.  Joseph 
Maier,  who  represented  the  character  of  Christ  at 
the  Oberammergau  Passion  Play  for  three  succes- 
sive decades,  declared  :  "  It  is  not  only  the  greatest 
honor  of  my  life  to  represent  the  character  of 
Christ,  but  it  is  for  me  the  most  solemn  of  religious 
duties."  "  In  his  name  "  means  in  his  spirit,  with 
his  aim.  All  of  life's  activities  can  be  done  equally 
in  his  name,  whether  it  is  to  eat  or  to  pray,  to  work 
in  the  store  or  in  the  church. 

The  same  principle  can  also  be  expressed  by  our 
relation  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  word  "Christ" 
means  the    anointed    one.      Christ    in    the    first 


MEN  AND  BUSINESS  lOg 

sermon  in  Galilee  given  in  his  own  home  church, 
declared  that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  had  anointed 
him,  evidently  recalling  the  event  that  occurred 
two  months  before,  when  the  Spirit  had  descended 
upon  him.  But  John  declares  that  we  also  have 
an  anointing  which  abides  upon  us.  We  too  are 
messiahs,  God's  anointed  ones,  under  the  direction 
and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  this  anointing 
does  not  come  and  go  according  to  the  locality  in 
which  a  man  is  placed.  He  is  Spirit-filled  at  busi- 
ness as  when  at  church. 

After  all,  what  Christ  wants  is  the  man  as  he  is, 
through  whom  he  is  to  shine  out  to  the  world. 
Religious  duties  are  not  ends  in  themselves.  When 
John  Lewis  Shuck,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
work  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  south- 
ern and  central  China,  was  a  young  man,  he 
attended  a  missionary  meeting.  A  fervent  appeal 
was  made  and  the  plates  came  in  heaped  with 
bank-notes,  silver,  and  even  gold.  But  there  was 
a  card.  An  usher  remembered  who  put  it  in.  It 
simply  said,  "Myself."  It  was  another  example 
of  "Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as  I 
have  give  I  thee."  God  wants  the  man's  self 
back  of  his  business,  and  then  the  business  will  be 
but  the  prism  by  which  God's  white  light  of  love, 
holiness,  and  truth  shall  be  refracted  into  the  rain- 
bow colors  of  Christian  graces. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST 

IT  was  years  ago  that  Thomas  Hughes  received 
a  communication  from  the  north  of  England, 
where  at  the  time  had  occurred  many  savage 
assaults  and  crimes  of  violence,  in  regard  to  the 
formation  of  a  new  Christian  organization.  The 
promoters  felt  that  many  Christian  young  men  of 
the  time  had  separated  themselves  from  the  or- 
dinary habits  and  life  of  young  men,  and  had  set 
before  themselves  a  wrong  standard,  which  taught, 
not  that  they  were  to  live  in  the  world  and  subdue 
it  to  their  Master,  but  were  to  withdraw  from  it  as 
much  as  possible.  Therefore  they  wanted  this  new 
"Christian  Guild"  founded  on  quite  other  prin- 
ciples. They  wanted  to  revive  by  their  organiza- 
tion muscular  Christianity,  in  which  members  must 
be  first  of  all  Christian,  but  selected  as  far  as  possi- 
ble for  some  act  of  physical  courage  or  prowess. 
It  was  hoped  that  branches  of  the  parent  organiza- 
tion might  attract  the  vigorous  young  men  of  each 
district,  and  so  give  a  higher  tone  to  the  sports  and 
occupations  of  young  Englishmen. 

Thomas  Hughes  did   not  see  his  way  clear  to 
identify  himself  with   the   proposed   organization, 
no 


THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST  III 

but  he  began  to  engage  in  a  new  study  of  the  life 
of  Christ,  the  result  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  his 
"Manliness  of  Jesus,"  which  has  not  to-day,  for 
some  reason,  the  wide  reading  that  it  deserves. 
Not  on  the  same  subject,  but  yet  rich  in  material 
on  the  topic,  derived  from  an  original  investigation 
of  the  Gospels,  is  Robert  E.  Speer's  "The  Man 
Christ  Jesus."  Still  the  question  is  comparatively 
untouched.  It  was  not,  then,  with  presuppositions 
that  scores  of  correspondents  answered  the  some- 
what daring  question  sent  to  them  :  "  Is  the  person 
of  Christ  attractive  to  men  }  " 

To  the  question,  there  was  a  quite  general  affirma- 
tive answer.  This  unanimity  of  opinion  may  possi- 
bly have  been  caused  by  the  general  condition  of 
public  opinion,  much  the  same  as  when  many  peo- 
ple profess  an  admiration  for  music  because  it  is 
supposed  not  to  be  good  form  to  dislike  it.  Here, 
the  stray  answers  count  most. 

"Yes,"  is  the  answer;  "to  all  fair-minded  men." 
"Way  above  his  age  in  all  that  pertains  to  a  sub- 
lime man."  "Believers  and  non-believers  com- 
mend him."  "  Yes,  as  a  worker,  server,  and  hero." 
"  I  never  found  any  one  who  did  not  wish  he  was 
as  good."  Some  limit  this  regard  to  the  good  or 
Christian  men.  To  others  "there  is  no  form  or 
comeliness  in  him."  "  They  do  not  like  his  perfect 
life  in  contrast  with  their  own." 

One  gives  this  full  answer  to  the  question  :  "  It 
depends  upon  the  man.     The  more  pervading  and 


112  THE   MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

deep-seated  the  element  of  honesty  is  in  the  man, 
the  more  affinity  he  will  feel  between  himself  and 
the  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  a  man  orders  his 
life  in  accordance  with  *  No.  i,'  instead  of  the  Golden 
Rule,  the  character  of  Christ,  so  far  as  it  affects 
him  at  all,  will  be  a  reproach  to  him.  There  was 
not  an  attribute  of  Jesus  Christ  that  did  not  re- 
buke self-seeking,  meanness,  hypocrisy,  dishonesty. 
Men  who  are  avaricious,  men  who  love  money  for 
money's  sake,  men  who  love  the  chief  seat  in  the 
synagogue,  cannot  find  the  person  of  Christ  at- 
tractive, whatever  they  may  outwardly  profess  on 
the  subject." 

Still  others  believe  that  Christ  would  be  attract- 
ive to  men  if  they  really  knew  him,  and  he  was 
properly  presented  from  the  pulpit.  Men  **  know 
nothing  about  him  except  what  they  are  taught  to 
believe."  **Men  are  so  ignorant  of  what  Christ 
is  or  what  it  is  to  be  Christlike.  Christian  teach- 
ing, until  within  a  short  time,  has  been  an  emotional 
act  rather  than  an  appeal  to  the  common  sense. 
Any  one  whose  susceptibilities  were  touched  was 
received  by  the  church  with  open  arms.  A  man 
may  resolve  to  be  a  Christian  in  an  instant,  but 
years  of  patient,  enduring  discipline  of  self  must  be 
persisted  in  before  he  can  attain  even  a  trifle  of 
self-control  and  self-renunciation.  Love  of  Christ 
may  begin  quickly  in  the  heart,  but  only  after 
years  of  toilsome  study  can  the  beauty  of  his  life 
shine  forth." 


THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST  II3 

Several  speak  especially  of  the  manliness  of 
Christ  as  a  needed  condition  of  attracting  men. 
**  Yes,  when  he  is  preached  as  a  full-rounded  man 
of  strength  and  character,  but  yet  tender  and  lov- 
ing and  humble.  He  is  too  often  made  to  be  a 
weak  man  by  pulpit  and  painter,  too  much  of  the 
Isaiah  Christ.  Men  love  strength  and  courage  and 
fortitude,  and  I  believe  that  Christ  so  lived  this  life 
at  all  times."  However,  another  pushes  back  the 
failure  to  attract  men  to  the  Bible  itself,  and  says 
that,  *'as  presented  in  the  Bible,  he  is  essentially 
effeminate." 

Among  other  suggestive  remarks  made,  are  that 
he  is  attractive  **as  a  man,"  but  "they  think  he 
was  almost  too  good  to  be  real";  "too  impossi- 
ble." "Not  all  his  teachings  are  practical.  He 
merely  preached  sentiment  and  had  a  one-sided 
religion."  "Jesus  lived  nineteen  hundred  years  ago 
and  things  have  changed  so  materially  since  then 
that  to-day  we  can  admire  only  his  mission."  "  It 
should  be  so,  but  there  are  so  few  Christians  who 
are  living  like  Christ.  Jesus  would  be  more  attract- 
ive to  men  if  his  followers  were  more  like  him." 

Looking  at  these  answers  as  a  whole,  it  may  be 
said  that  there  are  four  phases  of  Christ's  life  that 
are  attractive  to  men  when  properly  presented. 
The  first  is  the  human  as  the  counterpart  to  the 
divine  Christ.  It  is  well  to  emphasize  for  men  with 
their  struggles  that  Christ  was  at  times  hungry 
and  thirsty,  needed  sleep  and  was  often  weary; 
H 


114  THE   MASCULINE   IN  RELIGION 

that  he  partook  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  was  a 
fellow-sufferer  on  earth  ;  that  he  was  beset  with 
temptation,  not  only  in  the  wilderness,  but  through 
his  life,  and  that  from  the  desert  to  Golgotha,  be- 
tween baptism  and  baptism,  there  was  a  conflict 
with  Satan  ;  that  there  were  moments  of  perplex- 
ity and  deep  agonizing  and  strong  crying.  A  man 
ought  to  come  into  contact  with  that  Christ  who 
grew  as  he  grows,  grew  in  stature,  wisdom,  and 
grace  ;  who  learned  obedience  by  the  things  that 
he  suffered  ;  who  was  made  perfect  through  suffer- 
ings ;  who  trusted  and  prayed  as  a  real,  dependent, 
subordinate,  human  being  must. 

The  second  phase  is  the  personal  as  opposed  to 
the  theological  Christ.  There  are  forensic  rela- 
tionships with  God  no  doubt,  but  men  want  reality. 
Christ  cannot  be  a  means  to  some  end  beyond  him- 
self and  be  attractive  to  men.  Atonement,  justifi- 
cation, regeneration — there  are  two  ways  of  defin- 
ing them.  Better  let  the  legal  transactions  be  held 
in  abeyance,  while  the  personal  relationships  of 
Christ  to  the  believer  are  made  prominent.  He  it 
was  who  by  a  tangible  vicarious  sacrifice  came 
into  the  fever-smitten  world  and  took  the  dread 
disease  of  sin  upon  himself ;  he  it  was  who  made 
himself  our  friend,  bound  us  to  him,  and  vouched 
for  our  future  to  the  Father  ;  he  it  was  who  made 
us  admirers  and  followers  of  him  with  a  newly  be- 
gotten impulse.  That  is  all.  It  isn't  hard  to 
understand,  but  it  helps  a  man. 


THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST  1 15 

Thirdly,  there  is  the  modern  Christ  versus  the 
ancient  Christ.  A  missionary  once  said — he  is  a 
returned  missionary  now;  "  The  Japanese  cannot 
accept  our  historical  Christ ;  we  must  give  them 
the  Christ  spirit — the  essential  Christ — and  they 
will  in  this  way  come  unto  the  light  and  truth." 
Now  men  need  the  historical  Christ,  but  they 
want  also,  not  the  present  ideal  of  Christ  alone, 
but  Christ  himself.  We  have  a  twofold  process 
in  transmitting  Christ's  teachings  into  the  language 
of  to-day:  we  must  first  put  ourselves  back  into 
the  first  century  to  understand  the  times  of  Jesus 
and  to  see  what  he  taught ;  and,  second,  we  must 
bring  back  the  principles  thus  discovered  and  apply 
them  to  the  present  day.  This  must  theoretically 
always  be  done.  But  practically,  day  by  day,  a 
man  has  but  to  say,  "  Christ  sees  me  ;  knows  me. 
What  does  he  want  me  to  do  ?  " 

Then,  perhaps  more  than  all  else,  the  men  of  to- 
day want  the  masculine  Christ  as  opposed  to  the 
feminine.  There  were  two  ancient  ideas  of  Christ's 
physical  appearance,  one  that  he  was  a  leper,  smit- 
ten and  afflicted  of  God,  the  other  that  he  was  the 
perfect  type  of  physical  manhood.  The  first  idea 
passed  away,  but  the  second  became  so  warped 
that  in  almost  all  art  that  to-day  is  admired,  Christ 
is  presented  as  a  most  effeminate  man.  The  ideal 
is  esthetic  rather  than  practical.  Christ  is  pictured 
with  long  hair  parted  in  the  center,  with  light  brown 
beard,   large  dreamy  eyes,  and  an  expression  of 


Il6  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

meekness  and  resignation.  Perhaps  this  was  the 
natural  tendency  of  those  centuries  when  the  great 
problem  was  how  to  regard  Christ  as  the  Son  of 
God ;  although  even  Protestantism,  while  it  did 
away  with  the  worship  of  Mary,  kept  Mary's 
qualities  in  the  Son. 

To-day,  many  causes  seem  to  avail  in  holding  this 
warped  conception  of  the  nature  of  Christ.  It  is 
not  so  uncommon,  even  at  the  present  time,  to  hear 
the  contrast  made  between  God  and  Christ,  mak- 
ing God  the  embodiment  of  justice  and  Christ  of 
love,  in  order  to  justify  a  theory  of  the  atonement. 
Whatever  the  reasons  are,  the  popular  opinion  thus 
characterizes  Jesus.  It  is  somewhat  startling,  but 
after  all  only  a  unique  example  of  a  popular  im- 
pression, that  makes  Rev.  Phoebe  H.  Hanaford,  a 
Universalist  pastor,  write  in  the  Independent  of  May 
7,  1891 :  **  The  church  has  long  perceived  that  the 
tender-hearted  pastor  best  represented  the  good 
Shepherd,  who  'carried  the  lambs  in  his  bosom.' 
Not  all  men  can  thus  present  the  Lord.  But  I 
think  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  all  women,  by  their 
very  womanliness,  when  they  are  called  to  the 
ministry,  thus  represent  the  great  Teacher." 

But  look  at  Christ  from  the  critical  point  of  view 
of  masculinity,  and  what  is  found  ?  Did  he  have 
emotions  ?  Yes,  but  they  were  united  with  a  strong 
intellectuality.  He  was  not  suggestible  at  all,  but 
was  himself  the  strong  master  of  the  minds  of 
others.      He  was  affectionate,  but  with  an  inde- 


THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST  II7 

pendence  and  high  moral  regard  that  could  make 
him  rebuke  his  best  earthly  friend.  No  one  could 
call  him  a  conservative  ;  and  yet  he  united  his 
religion  to  the  past  of  Judaism  by  the  law  of 
spiritual  succession.  He  was  dependent  upon  no 
one,  except  his  Father.  He  was  artistic,  for  no  one 
knew  the  charms  of  nature  better  than  he  ;  but  he 
was  rugged  in  thought  and  simple  in  speech. 

It  is  not  possible  to  examine  each  part  of  his 
manly  nature,  but  it  is  well  to  note  especially  the 
marks  of  his  intellect  and  will-power.  To  be  pure 
and  to  be  insignificant  in  mental  ability  gives  one 
little  power  over  others.  The  world  has  seen  in 
Christ  morality  triumphant  under  the  skill  of  in- 
tellect. Mind  is  the  ballast  of  godliness.  Now 
Jesus  had  power  to  think  as  well  as  power  to  save. 
His  intellectual  power  makes  up  a  part  of  the  reve- 
lation of  God.  Nor  was  it  difficult  for  him  to  think 
great  thoughts  or  build  mighty  plans  which  show 
the  sanity  of  his  mind  by  their  persistency  for 
twenty  centuries.  He  was  also  a  practical  man  of 
affairs.  His  plan  was  not  complicated,  but  it  car- 
ried within  it  success.  For  the  time  being,  it  was 
deprecated,  but  its  wisdom  is  revealed  by  the  fact 
that  it  is  moving  the  world  to-day.  So  keen- 
sighted  was  he,  that  he  foretold  the  particular  dif- 
ficulties his  disciples  would  meet  down  through  the 
progress  of  the  centuries. 

Here  and  there  some  one  has  written  a  paragraph 
or  more,  appealing  for  a  proper  recognition  of  the 


Il8  THE  MASCULINE  IN  RELIGION 

manly  Christ  of  sagacity  and  authority.  Francis 
Greenwood  Peabody,  for  example,  in  "Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Social  Question,"  writes  :  "  The  traditions 
of  the  church  ascribe  to  Jesus  almost  every  other 
virtue  than  that  of  sagacity.  He  is  the  type  of 
submission  and  resignation.  His  features,  as  por- 
trayed by  Christian  art,  represent,  almost  invaria- 
bly, a  feminine,  spiritual,  patient  personality,  not 
one  that  is  virile,  commanding,  and  strong.  He 
has  become  the  ideal  of  the  monastic  and  ascetic 
character,  and  in  many  minds  would  have  no  con- 
sideration as  a  wise  guide  in  practical  affairs.  A 
most  careful  study  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  leads 
to  quite  an  opposite  impression.  He  was  indeed  a 
man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  but  he 
was  none  the  less  truly  a  man  of  wisdom  and  ac- 
quainted with  human  nature.  His  sanity  of  judg- 
ment is  as  extraordinary  as  his  depth  of  sympathy. 
.  .  .  Christian  art  and  reverence,  in  remembering 
the  prophecy  fulfilled  in  him,  *  In  all  their  affliction 
he  was  afflicted,'  has  forgotten  that  other  hope  of 
a  just  and  discriminating  guide,  which  was  equally 
fulfilled  in  him  :  *  The  government  shall  be  upon 
his  shoulder :  and  his  name  shall  be  called  Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor';  *  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall 
rest  upon  him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understand- 
ing.' The  picture  of  Jesus  which  Christian  art  has 
yet  to  paint  is  that  of  the  masculine  Christ,  a  per- 
sonality who  teaches  with  authority,  and  whose 
horizon  gives  him  comprehensiveness  of  view." 


THE  MANLINESS  OF  CHRIST  II9 

Christ  had  splendid  self-control.  See  him  as  he 
conquered  out  there  in  the  wilderness  physical  de- 
mands for  the  sake  of  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  ; 
as  he  restrained  his  eagerness  and  worked  on  in 
obscurity  for  thirty  years  ;  as  he  refused  kingship, 
when  he  was  de  jure  king  ;  as  he  never  spoke  un- 
advisedly, although  the  human  tongue  is  a  most 
unruly  member ;  as  he  spoke  his  convictions  even 
when  threatened  by  death. 

He  had  moral  courage.  He  would  not  compro- 
mise with  Nicodemus,  or  whitewash  the  lives  of 
the  Pharisees,  or  be  fearful  in  driving  out  the 
money-changers  by  the  threat  of  the  lash.  He 
was  unmindful  of  his  reputation,  and  never  accom- 
modated his  teaching  to  suit  the  times  or  the  au- 
dience. He  was  as  ready  to  set  his  face  steadfastly 
to  go  to  Jerusalem  as  if  he  were  going  to  an  en- 
thronement of  earthly  glory.  He  was  a  patriot ; 
but  a  patriot  who  loved  his  country  better  than 
his  own  life,  and  was  willing  to  die  for  his  country 
even  when  he  himself  could  not  live  in  his  earthly 
life  to  share  in  the  final  victory. 

This  fine  category  of  manly  qualities  does  not 
signify  that  Christ  lacked  the  gentler  graces.  Speer 
quotes  from  Miss  Mulock  in  ''John  Halifax,  Gentle- 
man," who  speaks  of  tenderness  as  "that  rare 
thing — a  quality  different  from  kindliness,  affec- 
tionateness,  or  benevolence  ;  a  quality  which  can 
only  exist  in  its  perfection  in  strong,  deep,  unde- 
monstrative natures,  and  therefore  in  its  perfection 


120  THE   MASCULINE   IN   RELIGION 

seldomer  found  in  women  than  in  men."  Speer 
goes  on  to  show  that  Jesus  revealed  that  tender- 
ness in  his  quick  thought  for  others,  in  his  love  for 
little  children,  in  his  kindly  attitude  toward  the 
Samaritans,  in  his  sympathy  with  widows,  in  his 
sympathy  with  the  lonely,  in  his  care  for  the  poor, 
in  his  passion  for  healing  the  sick  and  the  wretched, 
in  his  remembrance  of  his  mother  in  his  last  agony. 
If,  therefore,  Jesus  had  the  feminine  graces,  as 
he  certainly  did  have,  they  were  united  with  the 
strong,  deep  qualities  of  a  manly  nature.  If  he 
was  the  "apotheosis  of  the  feminine  ideal,"  he 
was  also  the  apotheosis  of  the  masculine  ideal.  He 
was  a  hero,  and  men  admire  the  hero.  No  wonder 
that  Wendell  Phillips  made  this  reply  to  a  group  of 
men  in  Boston  who  told  him  that  Jesus  was  amia- 
ble, but  not  strong:  "Not  strong!  Test  the 
strength  of  Jesus  by  the  strength  of  the  men 
whom  he  has  mastered  ;  titans  like  Cromwell,  for 
example,  or  Augustine,  or  Martin  Luther  I  "  Test 
Jesus  Christ  by  the  best  standards  of  manhood 
practised  by  the  noblest  men,  and  taught  by  the 
wisest  leaders  of  thought,  and  Jesus  will  be  found 
the  supremely  manly  man. 


Date  Due 

I 

AP?7 

0EC19 

1999 

f) 

1    1012  01009  1496 


